MedicineBow National Forest Abandoned Ranger Station
Map
Map
Story & Experience
The settler name for this place is the Medicine Bow Forest, so named because various native tribes were said to gather here and harvest mountain mahogany to make their bows, among other reasons. I know little else about how the native peoples used this landscape, but most likely they actively tended this forest over thousands of years in the way we know happened elsewhere. When we settlers arrived, we forcibly displaced them to reservations without any such awareness of this possibility. The forest became a preserve in 1902 and eventually became a National Forest. What I do know is that in a semi-arid climate like Wyoming, water sources like the rivers and the mountains that feed them are extra sacred; that’s where the trees grow. This forest, like many others in the American West, is experiencing die-off of quakies, multiple species of pine trees, cottonwoods, and others. There are a variety of causes, most of them thought to be secondary to climate change. Climate change is also causing a perennial drought in the West as well as more drastic swings in the amount of precipitation from year to year, both of which result in an increase in wildfires.
I did my GEx at an abandoned ranger station at the boundary of the Forest about 15 miles from where I live. There is a coal mine in nearby Hanna, Wyoming that used to be a major employer for this area. Extraction began in 1889, boomed until the late 1970s and then busted. Since then, this area has experienced a dramatic depopulation. This ranger station was abandoned sometime in the past 20 years, most likely due to this change in demographics, though I couldn’t find out for sure. Even if it wasn’t, I find it very emblematic of this aspect of the wounding of this place. Those who continue to live in the area still feel very connected to the coal mine and coal mining in general because they associate it with “the good old days,” and their politics reflects this. The Forest website says that they, the National Forest Service, are planning on converting the ranger station into a campsite, which I find brings hopeful energy.
The settler name for this place is the Medicine Bow Forest, so named because various native tribes were said to gather here and harvest mountain mahogany to make their bows, among other reasons. I know little else about how the native peoples used this landscape, but most likely they actively tended this forest over thousands of years in the way we know happened elsewhere. When we settlers arrived, we forcibly displaced them to reservations without any such awareness of this possibility. The forest became a preserve in 1902 and eventually became a National Forest. What I do know is that in a semi-arid climate like Wyoming, water sources like the rivers and the mountains that feed them are extra sacred; that’s where the trees grow. This forest, like many others in the American West, is experiencing die-off of quakies, multiple species of pine trees, cottonwoods, and others. There are a variety of causes, most of them thought to be secondary to climate change. Climate change is also causing a perennial drought in the West as well as more drastic swings in the amount of precipitation from year to year, both of which result in an increase in wildfires.
I did my GEx at an abandoned ranger station at the boundary of the Forest about 15 miles from where I live. There is a coal mine in nearby Hanna, Wyoming that used to be a major employer for this area. Extraction began in 1889, boomed until the late 1970s and then busted. Since then, this area has experienced a dramatic depopulation. This ranger station was abandoned sometime in the past 20 years, most likely due to this change in demographics, though I couldn’t find out for sure. Even if it wasn’t, I find it very emblematic of this aspect of the wounding of this place. Those who continue to live in the area still feel very connected to the coal mine and coal mining in general because they associate it with “the good old days,” and their politics reflects this. The Forest website says that they, the National Forest Service, are planning on converting the ranger station into a campsite, which I find brings hopeful energy.
Why this Place?
Medicine Bow Forest
This is the beginning of my work of deeply connecting to this Forest as well as the inauguration of my work to acknowledge and tend to the wounded people and places in Wyoming, starting with my local community. This is the beginning of my work of deeply connecting to this Forest as well as the inauguration of my work to acknowledge and tend to all the wounded people and places in Wyoming.
Act of Beauty
When I explored the ranger station, I discovered a pile of sticks by the door that wanted to be shaped into the RadJoy Bird. After I created it, I left it there as an offering. The flag I will tie to the top of a peace pole outside my home prayer flag style (Couldn’t set it up in time for a picture, sorry). I also drew the view of the Forest from behind the ranger station with the image of the RadJoy Bird within it. I tucked the drawing under a broken window screen as another offering.
Additional Photos
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