It has been an incredibly busy summer here in Wyoming. We have greatly increased Western Watersheds Project's reach and impact with the addition of two interns who spent the summer in the field, collecting data for some of our high-priority projects. We have been in the Bridger Wilderness, documenting ground cover and erosion issues caused by sheep grazing. The information will be used in the upcoming NEPA process for the area.

As part of our focus to save the imperiled Colorado River cutthroat trout, we conducted McNeil sediment core sampling in spawning streams throughout the Green River drainage. In one month of core sampling, we have done more to document sediment levels in spawning beds than the U.S. Forest Service has ever done.

Just the news that WWP would have a crew of interns in the field this summer sent shock waves through the offices of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management throughout the state. It is the first time the agencies have had to deal with a non-governmental organization collecting data on the impacts of their management decisions that can stand up in court. This summer's project has put WWP on the map as a player to be taken seriously in Wyoming. We are already building on this experience to create a project for next summer that will be an order of magnitude greater in scope and impact on public lands management within the state.

In the process of training our interns, we have expanded and deepened our relationships with many supportive agency personnel in the Forest Service, BLM, Wyoming DEQ and other agencies. The associations will yield benefits for years to come.

This summer, I was appointed by the governor's office to sit on the state's Non-point Source Task Force for a five-year term. The task force is in charge of distributing about $1.5 million per year in Clean Water Act funds for projects to clean up the state's waterways. The board is also charged with updating Wyoming's Best Management Practices guidelines to reduce pollution and habitat degradation. The grazing BMP is the next document to be to be updated.

Jonathan Ratner is Wyoming director of WWP. He lives in Pinedale, Wyoming.