My older sister, Christina Isabelle Thuermer, is likely relieved that 2025 is fading because she’s ready to hear from me about something other than corner crossing now that the Supreme Court resolved the infamous public land access case.
For years, my sister, a retired teacher of the theory of knowledge at Washington International School, has bemoaned my coverage of corner crossing. I’ve written so many articles — about 80 since 2021 — it’s hard to count them. They were all about a lawsuit that claimed $9 million in damages from a person momentarily passing through the air above private property without touching the land itself.
After getting the gist of Fred Eshelman’s airspace trespass claim that challenged public access to public land, Tina, who lives just outside Washington, D.C., became exasperated at every new article. The lawsuit, in her view and likely that of her students, was a case of reductio ad absurdum. Did the suit contend that even Thin-Mints-selling Girl Scouts would need a law degree merit badge before crossing a front yard to make a doorstep sale?
Well, Tina, you can relax in 2026. The U.S. Supreme Court this fall declined to hear the case, effectively ending the saga in favor of the hunters and public access. It remains legal in Wyoming and five other states to step from one piece of public land to another where they meet at a single point, even if one passes through the airspace above private property.
And if you didn’t read all my other stories, sis, here’s a quick review.
President Trump’s administration carried out a Valentine’s Day massacre of sorts in Wyoming, firing dozens of federal workers and pushing others out through DOGE downsizing. WyoFile put multiple reporters on the story. For my part, I stood outside federal office buildings, waiting for folks to leave with a box of family photographs and other desktop mementos.
That’s after I unsuccessfully staked out the Teton County Courthouse, waiting for the unscheduled arrival of a warranty deed giving Grand Teton National Park the 640-acre Kelly Parcel school section. The deed was driven across Wyoming in a snowstorm and filed about 6 minutes after the official close of business. We missed that story by a few minutes that day, but the end result was the preservation of a precious landscape.
If you think costs are up in your home of Arlington, Tina, where eggs were up to $11 a dozen, you should try building a dam in Wyoming. The estimated costs of the Alkali Creek and West Fork dams have ballooned so much that lawmakers are beginning to balk at once sure-fire infrastructure projects.
Our late parents will be pleased to know I went to church this year. However, it was for an assignment: to remember Charlie Kirk. I was able to show in a photograph the respect and sadness dozens had for the assassinated conservative influencer.
A fire commander described 100-foot-high flames at the Dollar Lake Fire that ran through dry and dead trees near Green River Lakes. Rob Wallace, who was instrumental in the Kelly Parcel preservation, received the Murie Spirit of Conservation award from the Teton Science Schools and recalled his grandfather’s successful push to create city parks in towns across Wyoming.
Speaking of new parks, the Legislature couldn’t get on board with the idea of creating Wyoming’s own Mount Rushmore to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence next year.
Although the Legislature passed a bill that made preservation of the Kelly Parcel possible, that didn’t stop some lawmakers from advocating for the takeover of Grand Teton National Park and most of the rest of the federal public land in Wyoming. They failed.
The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources came to Grand Teton National Park to hold a hearing on how to best spend conservation money. Within 10 days, however, conservation groups said MAGA forces continued their assault on public lands, seeking to end the protection-oriented U.S. Forest Service Roadless Rule and Bureau of Land Management Public Lands Rule.
In 2025, Utah’s Sen. Mike Lee also proposed a “mandatory disposal” plan for federal land holdings in the West. A large and boisterous crowd gathered in front of the Wyoming State Capitol to send the message public lands are “not for sale.” While his budget measure failed, Lee remains dedicated to his goal.
The Trump administration and its congressional allies dismantled the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, overwhelming the efforts of Wyoming’s own Ruby Calvert, who was sitting as chair of the independent group.
Wyoming’s mountain athletes earned championship honors. Downhill racer Breezy Johnson, who skis under the Jackson Hole logo, won two world championship gold medals, and mogul skier Jaelin Kauf raked in three international titles in her discipline.
In other mountain news, Exum climbing guide Jed Porter visited the landmark Second Tower of the Grand Teton, a feature that partially collapsed in 2022. He didn’t know it at the time, but he was missed by another huge rockfall that occurred just before he passed the pinnacle.
We dug into archives to report on the last letters another Exum Guide penned to his wife just before he was killed on Mount Everest in 1963. Jake Breitenbach was one of a handful of Teton climbers who played an outsized role in climbing the famous West Ridge of Everest.
Also in the stratosphere — chemtrails. I sat through eight hours of a committee meeting about claims the government is poisoning all of us by spraying toxicants from commercial airliners.
Finally, an archivist who was thumbing through old stuff uncovered a story about how a famous documentary photographer’s image of a Wyoming ceremony was used on the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street album. Robin Everett, an archivist at the Wyoming State Archives, stumbled on the link between Casper’s Hotel Townsend, photographer Robert Frank and the Stones and helped bring an exhibit of Frank’s work to Wyoming.
I reminded Tina today that the Wyoming corner-crossing saga is over, for now. “Oh, thank God,” she said.
Have an enjoyable 2026.