Get Up Close, For Free, At This Wyoming Research Facility
Get off the interstate. Take the backroads. You never know what you'll find.
How about suddenly seeing some of the most beautiful elk in Wyoming, and being able to get up close and personal with them, without worrying about getting mauled?
The Sybille Wildlife Research & Conservation Education Unit is located on Highway 34 about 35 miles southwest of Wheatland and 45 miles northeast of Laramie.
The drive through the canyon is magnificent all by itself. Then there is this.
The website explains to us that in 1948, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department purchased 3,081 acres of land, known as the Johnson Creek Wildlife Habitat Management Area to serve as a winter range for mule deer and to provide the public with recreational opportunities.
You can pull off the road and walk right up and say hello.
Keep your fingers on your side of the fence.
To address the needs for wildlife research, a field research facility needed to be developed to work with the Department's research laboratory at the University of Wyoming.
The Johnson Creek WHMA purchase was ideal for developing such a research facility.
It provided easy access, adequate space for pastures and confinement areas, and possessed diverse terrain, cover and weather conditions.
Its proximity to the University and supporting facilities also made its location optimal. The development of the research facility began in 1952 under the direction of Floyd Blunt and continues today.
Leading the Way in Wildlife Research:
Sybille was the first facility of its kind and remains one of the country's leading state wildlife research facilities.
It is not a game refuge or preserve.
Activities and projects at Sybille are specialized and practical rather than research for research's sake.
Studies at Sybille are keyed to the needs of game and habitat management and organized to answer questions and develop techniques that can be directly applied to wildlife management in the state.
Past, present, and future studies include wildlife diseases such as brucellosis, chronic wasting disease and pasteurellosis (pneumonia) in bighorn sheep, endangered species capture and propagation, nutrition, physiology, and genetics.
Efforts are continuously being made to develop handling, anesthesia, and general wildlife techniques. Sybille has contributed more than 170 research projects to conservation since its founding in 1972.
Laramie Peak Wyoming Bison
Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods
The Bison Secret Of Thermopolis Wyoming
Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods