How a 133-year-old tree signed for Yellowstone Forest Reserve stalled a helicopter mission

Plans to helicopter a slice of a 133-year-old inscribed tree out of Wyoming's Washakie Wilderness have been put on hold after public opposition, WyoFile reported.

Federal land managers had been working for years to recover the artefact for display, but a wave of objections from wilderness advocates has forced the Shoshone National Forest to pause the project.

Where does this tree stand, and why was it inscribed?


The dead Engelmann spruce stands about 28 miles from the nearest trailhead, in a 9,100-foot-high basin in the southern Absaroka Mountains, WyoFile reported. It was inscribed on October 3, 1893, by a survey crew led by Phillip M. Gallaher that had been mapping the boundaries of the Yellowstone Forest Reserve, the 1.2 million-acre precursor to today's Shoshone National Forest, when a snowstorm stranded them nearby.

According to WyoFile, historian Lawrence Todd, a Colorado State University emeritus professor based in Meeteetse who has studied the tree extensively, dug up Gallaher's original field notes recording that roughly five feet of snow fell without a break between October 3 and 7, 1893, forcing the crew to shelter beside the tree, where Gallaher and fellow surveyors J.L. Dorsh, C.L. Sawyer and J.E. Shaw carved their names, most likely out of boredom, Todd said.

The Yellowstone Forest Reserve was created by an act of Congress in March 1891 and signed by President Benjamin Harrison, making it the first tract of land set aside for what would become the National Forest System, according to WyoFile and forest history records. The tree's inscription came just 21 years after Yellowstone National Park's establishment and three years after Wyoming achieved statehood.

What did the recovery plan involve?

The Shoshone National Forest and Wyoming State Parks had been working toward extracting the inscribed tree section by helicopter and putting it on display at the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne, with a longer-term plan to move it to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West museum in Cody, WyoFile reported.

The Wyoming Legislature had tentatively earmarked $35,000 for the recovery during its 2025 session before ultimately allocating $25,000, along with additional funding through a state grant programme tied to the nation's upcoming 250th anniversary, per WyoFile. Because the removal would have required a helicopter and other mechanised equipment inside designated wilderness, where such use is normally barred, the plan needed a formal "minimum requirements analysis" and would have involved at least four helicopter landings in the wilderness, WyoFile reported.

Why did wilderness advocates object?

Federal land managers did not consult the public or wilderness advocacy groups before advancing the plan, WyoFile reported, and objections surfaced only after Wilderness Watch, a Missoula, Montana-based nonprofit founded in 1989 whose sole focus is stewardship of the roughly 112-million-acre National Wilderness Preservation System created by the 1964 Wilderness Act, flagged the project to its members.

Katie Bilodeau, the group's legislative director and policy analyst, wrote a blog post in mid-August urging people to write to the Shoshone National Forest, according to WyoFile. Bilodeau argued that wilderness should be governed by nature rather than human tools, and readers responded in large numbers, WyoFile reported.

Shoshone National Forest Supervisor Ken Coffin told WyoFile he received roughly 200 emails raising concerns about the project and acknowledged that although he personally supports removing the tree, forest officials had failed to engage the opposing side and that their concerns had merit. Coffin subsequently paused the project, meaning the tree will not be removed from the wilderness in 2026, WyoFile reported.

What happens to the tree now?

The Shoshone National Forest is now in discussions with Wyoming State Parks about creating a 3D scan and replica of the inscribed tree instead of removing the original, WyoFile reported, with Coffin indicating the tree could remain permanently in the wilderness if that option satisfies the plan's backers.

Wyoming State Parks Director Dave Glenn told WyoFile he supports slowing the project down to build wider support and said he is open to a 3D-printed replica after reviewing scans, but still favours extracting the physical tree before it deteriorates further and its history is lost. If Wyoming State Parks and other project backers are not satisfied with the replica option, the Shoshone National Forest would resume its approval process for removing the tree, according to WyoFile.

Todd's broader research in the area has also documented other inscribed trees and old hearths at a separate backcountry campsite near Younts Creek in the Thorofare region, WyoFile reported, underscoring how much archaeological history remains scattered through Wyoming's wilderness backcountry.