Such 'evidence' was then used to file costly lawsuits against the land owner. Wyoming specifically outlawed this practice but now Wyoming is being sued by the same people to force a reversal.

Two recently adopted Wyoming statutes, designed to protect farmers and ranchers from "environmental monitoring" of their property by green activists, are now being challenged in court by the very group whose actions on private land inspired passage of the laws.

In 2014, over a dozen ranchers sued the Western Watershed Project (WWP), saying the Idaho-based group had repeatedly trespassed on their property despite direct instructions and plainly written signage to stay off private land. According to the lawsuit, WWP's trespasses began in 2005 and were undertaken under the pretext of gathering water-quality samples to check for pollution.

"Landowners are not comfortable having an extreme biased organization that has not demonstrated the professional qualifications to collect credible data trespassing their lands." Cheyenne-based attorney Karen Budd-Falen said at the time the suit was filed. The case is still in litigation.