Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

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  • Dot, a former wild horse now works the Wyoming range with a sheepherder. He is tame enough for trick riding and is a patient, obedient, old soul.
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  • A former wild horse stands steadfast while patiently waiting for a shepherd to check on a lamb as they work together on the Wyoming range.
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  • Two Pyrenees guard dogs herd sheep on the Wyoming range at sunrise.
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  • An adopted former wild horse now works the Wyoming range with a sheepherder and dogs.<br />
Dot, white mustang, was trained by prison inmates and then bought by rancher owners at a public auction. The docile horse earned his keep one week later when he saved the life of a shepherd who was lost in a blinding snow storm. The rider dropped the reins trusting the horse to find his way back home in spite of the blizzard.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222886.jpg
  • A former wild horse now works a Wyoming range with a sheepherder. Dot was trained by prison inmates and adopted for the ranch. The first week he arrived, a herder was lost in a blizzard and in danger of freezing. The rider dropped the reins and held onto the horses neck as the sure-footed mustang found his way home.
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  • A band of wild horses roam the wide open spaces on Bureau of Land Management rangeland near Pilot Butte in western Wyoming.
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  • A former wild horse, adopted and trained, now works the Wyoming range with a sheepherder and his dog. Owners find that mustangs are sure-footed on a trail and spook less than domesticated horses.
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  • Former wild horses are rewarded with oats after a long day working a Wyoming ranch with sheepherders. Camp is set up near the sheep and herders live on the range.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222890.jpg
  • A once wild horse now works the Wyoming range with a sheepherder. The sure footed, adopted equine is won the trust of ranchers and cowboys when he saved the life of a rider lost in a blizzard by finding his way home.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222887.jpg
  • A herd of sheep on the Wyoming range watch as guard dogs and herders on horseback arrive in the morning.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222885.jpg
  • A band of wild horses follow single file to water as they roam the wide open spaces near Pilot Butte a unique formation that stands out in the high desert on public lands in western Wyoming.
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  • Dot, a former wild horse, patiently waits under a guard dog's watchful eye as a sheepherder checks on the animals in his care.<br />
After the mustang was trained by prison inmates, the horse was sold at auction. He earned respect the first week on the ranch in the Wyoming range when he found his way back to the corral in a blizzard saving the life of his mount.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1201771.jpg
  • A mining employee works around a large piece digging equipment used at Black Thunder, a coal surface mine. Located in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, the dragline bucket used at the mine holds 170 cubic yards of coal that is extracted, processed, then loaded onto trains. Almost 100 million tons of low sulpher coal is shipped from this surface mine to power plants.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705777.jpg
  • Truckers haul supplies across Wyoming’s Red Desert leaving a wind-blown trail of dry dust. The boom of oil and gas drilling brings heavy vehicles to roads originally meant for the occasional pick up truck.
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  • A family who lives in Wyoming’s vast Wind River Reservation, piled into pick up trucks and gather for a picnic beside a lake.
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  • Wyoming ranch family -mother, daughter and grandfather- is out for a drive to check on their sheep.
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  • Bureau of Land Management contractors use a helicopter to push wild horses toward a trap during a roundup. Wyoming has "checkerboard" ownership of public land abutting private ownership. Ranchers won a lawsuit to have mustangs removed because they cross unfenced lines while grazing and searching for water.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222908.jpg
  • A man gently holds his great granddaughter in the living room of the Wyoming family ranch.
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  • Some of the world's best preserved fossils are found in the Fossil Butte National Monument on flat-topped ridges of southwestern Wyoming's cold sagebrush desert. Discoveries from the ancient lake sediments the Eocene Green River Formation of Fossil Basin are world-renowned. A fish fossil is held in the palm of a hand.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705775.jpg
  • Wagon trains cut through following various trails that cut across Wyoming on their way West in the late 1800s. Remnants of their rutted paths cross rivers and draws and some are more visible when filled with water from snow melt.
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  • Truckers haul supplies across Wyoming’s Red Desert leaving a wind-blown trail of dry dust. The boom of oil and gas drilling brings heavy vehicles to roads originally meant for the occasional pick up truck.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-48.JPG
  • Goats pack hiker’s supplies through the wind-blown sand flows and across the high plains on the edge of Wyoming’s Red Desert. An outdoor enthusiast started a business with his goats that follow along without being leashed. They wear bells in case they wander away and can be easily found in the open country but they are sure-footed and willing companions that can carry 30-65 pounds. They jump and run along beside hikers having the natural instinct to play follow the leader. The high-desert ecosystem is varied with buttes, sagebrush steppe, mountains and dunes.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-46.JPG
  • Wind-blown desert sand flows across the high plains on the edge of Wyoming’s Red Desert. Killpecker Sand Dunes are one of the largest living dune system in the United States. The high-desert ecosystem is varied with buttes, sagebrush steppe, mountains and dunes that form patterns of repetition across the landscape.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-45.JPG
  • A worker steps inside a giant dragline bucket used to mine coal from Black Thunder, the largest surface coal mine in the U.S. located in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. The bucket holds 170 cubic yards of coal that is extracted, processed, then loaded onto trains. Almost 100 million tons of low sulphur coal is shipped from this surface mine to power plants.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-7.JPG
  • An older Wyoming rancher checks the fence at the Ladder Livestock Ranch while his daughter and granddaughter unlock the gate.
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  • Bureau of Land Management contractors drive wild horses galloping toward a trap using helicopters. Wyoming rangelands have "checkerboard" ownership of adjoining public and private land complicating management of wild horse herds. Ranchers won a lawsuit to have them rounded up and removed.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222844.jpg
  • Contractors wrestle with a foal attempting to load the colt into the back of a trailer after the herd was captured during a Bureau of Land Management roundup of wild horses in Wyoming.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222837.jpg
  • An alert, young foal with interesting markings and roan colors is part of a herd of approximately 120 wild horses in the Pryor Mountains. <br />
Foals are often born with a pale shade of their adult color. In the wild, the dull colored coat camouflages babies from predators. However, they typically shed their fuzzy foal coat at three or four months of age and evolve into their adult coloration.<br />
The herd range is in the high meadows down through rugged juniper-covered foothills to colorful desert-like badlands that border the green fields of Crooked Creek Valley. Bureau of Land Management's Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range in Wyoming.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222831.jpg
  • Silhouetted men fish in the Firehole River surrounded by geothermal activity.
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  • Closeup of elk.
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  • Aerial of Grand Prismatic Spring.
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  • A female moose nuzzles her juvenile.
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  • Boardwalk with steam, Midway Geyser Basin.
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  • Great gray owl in Pelican Valley.
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  • Jesse Driskill herding cattle on the Koa Ranch.
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  • Separated from the herd, wild horses run to safety as Bureau of Land Management contractors bear down driving mustangs toward a trap using a helicopter for the roundup.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222835.jpg
  • Wild stallions square off at a watering hole as other horses drink. Horses come to drink in a hierarchy, so these two mustangs are competing for dominance as water becomes more scarce for wildlife.
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  • A young trainer works with a wild horse in a gentle manner.
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  • A young trainer calms a wild horse she is training, one of 50 unwanted wild horses she has adopted.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737134.jpg
  • A young trainer calms one of the 50 unwanted wild mustangs she and her mother adopted.
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  • A wild horse trainer coaxes her horse to walk through a curtain made of plastic that could spook a horse.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737108.jpg
  • A ranch hand opens a chute to load wild horses into a truck transporting them to a holding facility after a round up.
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  • Ranch hands and workers share an early breakfast in a local diner, a ritual before working with wild horses.
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  • The matriarch of the family that contracts for wild horse round ups makes notes into her computer.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737081.jpg
  • Cowboys roll out jute setting up fences for a helicopter round up to remove wild horses from public land.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737080.jpg
  • Contractors and BLM horse specialists plan a wild horse roundup because of a lawsuit by The Rock Springs Grazing Association.
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  • Rounded up wild horses pace in holding facility corrals before they are transported where some are adopted.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737077.jpg
  • BLM contractors rope a young foal that was separated from his band after he was chased by two helicopters in a wild horse roundup.
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  • Helicopter hovers over a herd of wild horses during a roundup on public land.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737072.jpg
  • Wild horses graze in a remote area of  high desert on western public lands.
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  • A small band of wild horses trots to join a herd as they graze in the high desert of western public lands.
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  • A small herd of wild horses approaches with curiosity in the high desert West on public lands.
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  • A wily horse separated from his band trots to freedom during a helicopter wild horse round up.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_2737058.jpg
  • Horses flee from helicopters in a Bureau of Land Management mustang roundup. Bands stay together to protect the younger wild horses as the herd gallops full speed trying to run to safety.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222846.jpg
  • Panicked wild horses flee from a helicopter in a roundup. The Bureau of Land Management hires contractors annually to reduce herd numbers throughout the West.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222843.jpg
  • A wild stallion attempts to escape but is roped by cowboys during a Bureau of Land Managment roundup. The wily wild horse whinnied to the other trapped horses, then tried to outrun his captures.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222836.jpg
  • A Pryor Mountain  mustang lifts his lip to catch a scent in a wild horse range in Montana. The behavior is called a Flehmen response when an animal curls his upper lip in this manner.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222832.jpg
  • A young trainer works with a wild horse training him to calmly walk through a pool filled with plastic bottles for the first time.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737139.jpg
  • A young trainer works with a wild horse training him with a gentle calm voice asking him to lie down.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737138.jpg
  • A young trainer works with a horse training in a gentle manner rewarding him with a scratch on the neck.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737137.jpg
  • A trainer works with a wild horse, one of 50 she and her teenage daughter have adopted.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737135.jpg
  • A young horse approaches a trainer looking for attention. The teen and her mother have adopted 50 unwanted wild horses and train many of them for riding and competitions.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737132.jpg
  • A young horse trainer gets a surprise buss from one of the 50 wild horses that she and her mother have adopted and train.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737131.jpg
  • Two women horse trainers ride near their ranch where they adopted 50 unwanted, wild horses.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737112.jpg
  • A horse trainer rides bareback on the ranch where she and her mother adopted 50 unwanted wild horses.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737111.jpg
  • A horse trainer chooses a wild horse to ride on the ranch where she and her mother adopted 50 unwanted mustangs.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737110.jpg
  • Mother helps her daughter onto a horse to ride bareback. They adopted 50 wild horses and train them.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737109.jpg
  • A stallion chases a colt away from his band when a young male reaches sexual maturity.
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  • Matriarch of a western family has a ride along canine companion.
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  • A BLM contractor is a no-nonsense tough woman with a sweet nature and good heart who loves working with horses.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737082.jpg
  • Contractors prepare to load trucks with wild horses they capture following a round up.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737078.jpg
  • Wild horses pace back and forth in temporary holding facility corrals adjusting to fences after wild horse round up.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737076.jpg
  • Frightened wild horses are corralled before transported to BLM holding facility.
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  • Helicopter chases a stallion that was captured but run out of the trap during a wild horse roundup.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737073.jpg
  • Geyser Basin, twilight.
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  • Puffy clouds fill the sky over Devil's Tower.
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  • A workman on a flatbed truck unloads a large storage tank at a gas drilling site. The petroleum industry has been exploring for oil and gas in Wyoming for over 135 years. In 1884 the first oil well was drilled southeast of Lander.
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  • Dust rises up from Black Thunder, the largest surface coal mine in the U.S. located in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. The dragline bucket holds 170 cubic yards of coal that is extracted, processed, then loaded onto trains. Almost 100 million tons of low sulpher coal is shipped from this surface mine to power plants.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705675.jpg
  • Beef Empire Days ranch riding competition in Garden City, Ks., which is at the heart of the American breadbasket where farmers grow corn, wheat and sorghum and raise cattle. Over the last sixty years, two technologies have transformed production from rain fed-oriented agriculture to high-intensity irrigated agriculture, a change that transformed the local economy. Instead of relying on rain, Garden City farmers now use low-cost groundwater pumps and a technique called "center-pivot irrigation" to essentially mine for water locked deep underground. Garden City's current bounty is possible because beneath these farmer's fields is a vast reservoir of water, called the Ogallala Aquifer. This vast stretch of groundwater touches eight states, from South Dakota and Wyoming to New Mexico and Texas and so, because the semi-arid climate of the High Plains doesn't receive enough rainfall to support intensive agriculture, farmers pump this trapped water above ground to irrigate their fields.
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  • Wild horses gallop across Wyoming's Red Desert in the area of Honeycomb Buttes. The arid high desert located along the rim of the Great Divide Basin is colorful from deposits left by an ancient lake. The desolate wilderness area has sparse vegetation but horses spotted while on an aerial landscape shoot share the region with pronghorn deer and a rare desert elk.
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  • A large industrial mining truck carries a load of coal from Black Thunder, the largest surface mine in the U.S. Located in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, the mine extracts coal that is transported by rail to power plants in the East.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705780.jpg
  • A piece of mining equipment of behemoth proportions operates at a surface coal mining site, Black Thunder, the largest surface coal mine in the U.S.   Located in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, the dragline bucket holds 170 cubic yards of coal that is extracted, processed, then loaded onto trains. Almost 100 million tons of low sulpher coal is shipped from this surface mine to power plants.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705778.jpg
  • An aerial photo shows the Niobrara River filled with fossil water flowing through farms and a wildlife refuge in Nebraska. Rich hues of green on the hillsides and fields at sunset create a scenic landscape.<br />
<br />
The Niobrara River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 568 miles (914 km) long, running through the U.S. states of Wyoming and Nebraska.
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  • The Niobrara River flows through farms and a wildlife refuge.<br />
<br />
The Ogallala Aquifer comes to the surface in Nebraska.<br />
<br />
The Niobrara River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 568 miles (914 km) long, running through the U.S. states of Wyoming and Nebraska.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8429_2481043.JPG
  • Prison inmates train wild horses and ride them under the watchful eye of a corrections officer in a program run by Wyoming's Warm Springs Correctional Center. Inmates bond with the horses but they are auctioned off to the public after they are handled which makes them more adoptable.
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