Dear editor:

I am writing with serious concerns about the proposed summer development at Sleeping Giant Ski Area. My connection to this place runs deep, and I believe our community needs to carefully consider what we stand to lose. 

I first came to Cody in the summer of 1999 to work as a seasonal ranger on the Shoshone National Forest. During my first week, my supervisor, Mick Barrus, took our entire team up Logan Mountain. As we looked over the Wapiti Valley, he said: “This is my Wyoming, my home. Now it is your Wyoming and your home, and it is your job to protect it and make sure it is here for future visitors and residents to enjoy and appreciate, too.” 

That moment changed my life. I knew I’d found my WHERE. Those words have guided every decision since — from building a life here to raising my daughter in this community to speaking up now when I see something that threatens what makes this place irreplaceable. Like many families, we have fond memories at Sleeping Giant. My husband, Andy, was part of the team that “Woke the Giant” when Yellowstone Recreations took over nearly two decades ago. Our daughter, Charlotte, learned to ski there, and we felt comfortable letting her explore with friends before she was even in middle school. Losing that community ski experience would be heartbreaking. But my deeper concern is the destruction of the natural ecosystem. 

We are extraordinarily fortunate to have something nowhere else can claim: Just 5 miles from Yellowstone National Park, in one of the wildest corners of the country, we have intact habitat where grizzly and black bears, wolves, elk, moose, and countless other species  thrive — wildlife you can often see right from the North Fork Highway. This isn’t just scenery. It’s a functioning ecosystem essential to the Greater Yellowstone region. 

The proposed summer development would fragment this critical habitat, increase human activity during sensitive wildlife breeding and feeding seasons, and fundamentally alter an area that has remained relatively undisturbed. Once we disrupt this ecosystem, we can  never get it back. The cumulative impacts — increased traffic, noise, constant human presence during critical wildlife seasons — will have consequences we cannot undo. 

As local business owners, we understand the desire for economic development and recreation opportunities. But some places are too important, too rare, too essential to wildlife and our community’s identity to develop. Sleeping Giant in winter, when snow covers the ground and wildlife has moved to lower elevations, is one thing. Year-round development that brings constant human activity into sensitive habitat is another entirely.

Mick told me 25 years ago that it was my job to protect this place. I took those words seriously then, and I take them seriously now. This is still my Wyoming. It’s my daughter’s Wyoming. I’m asking our community and the Forest Service to make sure it remains wild and intact for everyone who comes after us. 

Amy J. Quick 

Cody