Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 23, 2025 |
Photo – Discover Carbon County Wyoming ad – Courtesy Carbon County Visitor’s Council
The Carbon County Visitors Council updated the Rawlins governing body on tourism statistics and outreach programs.
During the September 16th Rawlins City Council meeting, Carbon County Visitors Council Chief Executive Officer, Leslie Jefferson, presented a preliminary report of her organization’s fiscal year 2024 through 2025 activities. Following ten years of steady growth, Jefferson said the county saw only a modest increase in visitors last year. The Visitors Council CEO blamed the decline in tourism on the poor economy.
While tourism is lower across the board, Jefferson said people are still visiting Carbon County’s high-end properties, such as Brush Creek and Three Forks Ranches. However, the property owners have lowered their prices, further reducing the amount of lodging taxes the county is collecting.
Jefferson reported that the Carbon County Visitors Council fulfilled over 24,000 requests for information from potential tourists and participated in numerous state and national tourism events.
Additionally, Jefferson said a new public relations campaign has resulted in nearly 60 mentions of Carbon County in news outlets and on social media nationwide, boosting the county’s visibility and increasing the likelihood of attracting visitors.
Next, Jefferson updated the Rawlins City Council on the Wyoming Office of Tourism’s destination development grants. Last year, the Carbon County Visitors Council used the state grant money to hire Saratoga business owner Cindy Loose to visit every municipality and come up with ways they could attract more visitors. Jefferson said Loose identified 13 tourism improvement opportunities across the county, all of which will be funded through next year’s destination development grant.
Jefferson also announced that several members of the Carbon County Avalanche Operations Team are pursuing advanced Professional Avalanche Training certifications to improve the accuracy of local forecasts. In 2024, following the avalanche death of Saratoga Councilman Jacob Fluty, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office used a $65,000 Visitors Council grant to form the region’s first avalanche forecasting team for the Snowy Range and Sierra Madre Mountains.
Next, Visitor’s Council CEO Jefferson provided an update on the Fossil Cabin. Built in 1933 by local fossil hunter and entrepreneur Thomas Boylan, the Fossil Cabin contains 5,796 fossilized dinosaur bones, mostly collected from the nearby Como Bluffs. Originally constructed to attract tourists to Boylan’s gas station, the structure has sat vacant for over 30 years.
The Town of Medicine Bow has been working with the Carbon County Visitors Council to relocate the Fossil Cabin from its current site, roughly seven miles east of town, to the Medicine Bow Museum. Jefferson said they’re waiting for the moving company to confirm a date for the move.
Lastly, Jefferson said the Carbon County Visitors Council is working to create corridor management plans for the Snowy Range and Battle Pass Scenic Byways. A corridor management plan is a document that guides the preservation, enhancement, and promotion of a designated travel area. Jefferson offered to present the completed documents to the Rawlins City Council after they’ve been approved by the Southeast Wyoming Outdoor Recreation Collaborative.
