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1) Planners
switch deadline for voting on Comp Plan scenarios • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1) Planners switch deadline for voting on Comp Plan scenarios You now have through March 21 to weigh in on the critical land-use planning phase of the Jackson/Teton County Comprehensive Plan update, during which planners are asking the public to make difficult but necessary choices about future growth and development. Planners originally set a cutoff date of March 7 for completing an online survey at www.jacksontetonplan.com, but have since extended it to March 21. They also added an online Spanish version of the survey and say it will remain available until March 28. At a public meeting on Jan. 30, town and county planning staff asked attendees to vote on four growth scenarios: Wildlife Conservation Focus, Compact Centers and Housing Focus (a scenario most similar to the 1994 Comp Plan currently in effect), Jackson “Town as Heart” Focus and Limited Growth Focus. Each scenario is designed to be an extreme example of the kinds of tradeoffs that valley residents will need to make as they set priorities for the Comp Plan vision. Planners intend to meld the public meeting results, votes gathered via the Comp Plan update website, plus phone and mail survey results, into a hybrid land-use scenario that will most closely reflect the community’s vision. (During the first couple weeks of March, people from the University of Wyoming called a random sampling of Teton County households to ask them to participate in the phone survey.) Please visit www.jacksontetonplan.com and click on “Scenarios Packet” to download information on the four options. Details about how you can vote on the options are available at www.jacksontetonplan.com/survey. There you'll find an online survey, as well as one you can print out and mail in. (Even if you participated in the Jan. 30 public meeting, you’re also encouraged to fill out the survey.) You can also stop by the Alliance office at 685 S. Cache St. and pick up a copy of the survey to fill out. Planners intend to present the hybrid land-use scenario for comment at the next Comp Plan public meeting, which is now tentatively scheduled for early May. We’ll post the meeting date on the Conservation Alliance website, www.jhalliance.org, as soon as it becomes available. Meanwhile, please contact Kristy Bruner at (307) 733-9417 or kristy@jhalliance.org if you have any questions. For more information about the Comp Plan update, please visit www.jhalliance.org/issuescompplan.htm.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 2) Teton Meadows Ranch hearing to continue on March 10 (At the March 10 hearing, after placing numerous conditions, Teton County planning commissioners voted 3 to 2 to approve the Teton Meadows Ranch sketch plan. The Teton Board of County Commissioners is now tentatively scheduled to hear the proposal on April 29. We'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, an updated fact sheet is available at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/TetonMeadowsFAQ.3-20-08.pdf.) Teton Meadows Ranch is currently proposed as a 500-unit Planned Unit Development for Affordable Housing on the 288-acre Seherr-Thoss property (now zoned rural) at the southern end of South Park. After more than six hours of public comment on Feb. 11 and Feb. 20, a third meeting before the Teton County Planning Commission was originally scheduled for Feb. 25, but on that date, the applicant submitted a request for a continuance until March 10, 6 p.m., County Commissioners’ chambers, 200 S. Willow. (Applicants are allowed to make such a request only once during the sketch plan process.) The request came right after the Wyoming Department of Transportation released a report stating that the “traffic impact analysis completed for this proposed development is enigmatic and misleading, similar to other reports prepared by the consultant.” The Conservation Alliance does not support Teton Meadows Ranch as currently proposed. Overall, the proposal represents a departure from: current zoning; fundamental principles of smart growth; and consistent application of affordable housing planning tools. While a number of concerns remain unresolved, one notable change occurred during February. Similar to points raised by the Conservation Alliance, the Teton County Housing Authority stated that the Teton Meadows Ranch proposal did not meet the basic requirements of the PUD-AH because it failed to provide 50 percent affordable housing. Consequently, county planners said the applicants need to provide this as a condition of approval. While this is a positive step, it’s only now, after six months of application reiterations, that the proposal has even begun to approach meeting land development regulations for affordable housing. Also, the applicant’s commitment to actually construct affordable housing, as opposed to just conveying land to other groups for them to build homes on, remains unclear. For more information, please refer to the Conservation Alliance comments posted at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/TetonMeadowsComments.1-24-08.pdf, read our fact sheet at www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/TetonMeadowsFAQ.2-26-08.pdf, or contact Kristy Bruner at (307) 733-9417 or kristy@jhalliance.org. We urge you to get involved in this important land-use decision by raising questions and voicing your concerns. Please attend the March 10 hearing and consider contacting the following people: Blair Leist, Staff Planner on Teton Meadows Ranch 733-3959 or bleist@tetonwyo.org Teton County Planning Commission: planningcom@tetonwyo.org Board of County Commissioners: 733-8094 or commissioners@tetonwyo.org Andy Schwartz, Leland Christensen, Ben Ellis, Bill Paddleford, Hank Phibbs• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 3) Updates on other town and county matters TOWN APARTMENT-TO-CONDO CONVERSIONS -- Jackson Town Council and Planning Commission, March 17, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Town Council chambers, 150 E. Pearl. (THIS WORKSHOP WAS CANCELLED ON MARCH 14.) In January, the Jackson Town Council voted for a 180-day moratorium on condominium conversions (exempting commercial conversions). Councilors and planning commissioners have scheduled another workshop on condo conversions for March 17. The Conservation Alliance commends them for making time to examine their policies on converting apartments to condos and to explore how the consequences of conversions, such as the loss of affordable rental units, can best be managed. WILSON COMMERCIAL ZONING DISTRICT -- Teton County Planning Commission, March 24, 6 p.m., County Commissioners’ chambers, 200 S. Willow; and Teton Board of County Commissioners, April 1, 9 a.m., same location. The latest action in the Wilson planning process is to create a Wilson Commercial Zoning District. According to county planners, some of the development allowed in Wilson’s commercial core under current zoning could drastically change the town’s character, while some types of development desired by residents is prohibited. Planning staff “believes it is important that a zoning district specific to the Wilson commercial core be adopted even while the Comprehensive Plan update is in process.” For details, visit www.tetonwyo.org/plan and click on “Link to Wilson Planning Page” in the Announcements box. GRAND TARGHEE -- On Feb. 4, the Teton Board of County Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to give Grand Targhee official resort status, with all its development potential. This includes a build-out of 450 units, 150,000 square feet of commercial space, and an estimated average occupancy of 2,500 to 3,000 people on 120 acres of private land completely surrounded by National Forest and adjacent to the Jedediah Smith Wilderness Area. The privilege of operating a large, private business within these surroundings comes with a deep stewardship responsibility. The Conservation Alliance will continue to follow the growth of this resort and insist that everything that can be done to protect wildlands and wildlife will be done. Stewardship responsibility does not end with the resort permit -- it begins there. For more information on Targhee and resort zoning, please visit www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/Targhee&Resorts.2-08.pdf.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 4) Resumption of management plan revision leads Bridger-Teton news BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST MANAGEMENT PLAN REVISION -- Since 2005, Bridger-Teton officials have been working on a long-range plan to guide energy development and other land-use decisions regarding the forest. But the public part of this planning process has been on hold since spring of 2007, when a federal judge shot down the Bush administration's attempts to make forest plans "aspirational documents" rather than legally binding plans. In response, the Forest Service released a draft environmental impact statement in August on the planning process itself, and the final EIS on this federal Forest Planning Rule was released on Feb. 7. It does address some concerns regarding reduction of protective measures, scientific rigor and public input on Forest Service plans, but it’s still weaker than previous planning rules. Regardless, Bridger-Teton officials say they expect this document to provide the direction they need to resume the management plan revision process this spring. They’ve scheduled the following public workshops: March 26, 6 to 9:30 p.m. in Afton at Star Valley Middle School, 505 Kennington-Burton Lane; March 27, 6 to 9:30 p.m. in Jackson at Jackson Hole High School, 1910 W. High School Road; April 28 in Rock Springs; and April 29 in Pinedale. (Check the Bridger-Teton management plan revision web page www.fs.fed.us/r4/btnf/news/forest_plan_revision/index.shtml for updates, and for links to recent economic and sociological studies relating to the forest and surrounding communities.) On Feb. 27, the Bridger-Teton forest plan revision cooperators' group met for the first time in a year to discuss agendas for the above workshops. (Members of the group include people from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and from other governmental and nonprofit agencies within the counties that contain forest lands.) At this meeting, forest officials demonstrated exercises that will be used during the workshops to get community input on "desired conditions" in specific areas of the forest. The workshops are supposed to be an opportunity for people to consider whether current access and uses are compatible with needs and desires identified earlier in the planning process, or if changes need to be made. The March workshops will focus on the Buffalo, Jackson and Greys River ranger districts in northern Bridger-Teton; the April meetings will deal with the Kemmerer, Big Piney and Pinedale districts in the southern part of the forest. Forest planners say the object of all four workshops is to come up with mapped scenarios that depict: locations where changes are needed; possible adjustments to management strategies in those places; and trade-offs that should be considered. Please attend the workshop nearest you! WYOMING RANGE LEGACY ACT HAS FIRST HEARING -- Of all the threats facing the forest that surrounds Jackson Hole, none could cause greater harm to wildlife, the environment and our tourism-based economy than energy development. This past fall, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso introduced federal legislation that, if passed, would prohibit future oil and gas leasing on the Wyoming Range of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Based on work begun by the late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, the Wyoming Range Legacy Act of 2007 would also allow buybacks of exploration and development rights already sold to energy companies, which could be an option to avert pending development. The act had its first hearing before a subcommittee of the Natural Resources and Energy Committee on Feb. 27. We’ll keep you posted on its progress. Visit www.wyomingrange.org for more information on efforts to protect the Wyoming Range. SCOPING COMMENT PERIOD ON CONTESTED WYOMING RANGE LEASES EXTENDED TO APRIL 28 -- On Jan. 28, Bridger-Teton officials announced plans for a new environmental analysis of oil and gas leases on 44,700 acres of the Wyoming Range. The leases have been suspended since 2006, when the federal Interior Board of Land Appeals ruled that an earlier National Environmental Policy Act analysis didn’t adequately consider impacts to wildlife and the environment. Some have questioned the timing of this new analysis, given the pending legislation mentioned above and the ongoing Bridger-Teton management plan revision. Regardless, the public now has until April 28 to submit comments to help determine the scope of the new study to this address: Attn. Stephen Haydon, Forest Minerals Staff, Bridger-Teton National Forest, P.O. Box 1888, Jackson, WY 83001-1888. Or email them to comments-intermtn-bridger-teton@fs.fed.us. Interestingly, just days after Bridger-Teton’s announcement, officials with Stanley Energy of Denver proposed a plan to drill on more than 20,000 of the 44,720 contested acres. The company wants to put 181 wells on eight 50-acre well pads in an area west of Merna in the Horse Creek and Beaver Creek drainages. For more information on regional energy development issues, please visit www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/EnergyDevUpdate.2-08.pdf. BRIDGER-TETON SUPERVISOR’S OFFICE RELOCATION -- The relocation of the Bridger-Teton Forest Supervisor’s office is still under discussion and your input can still count. Due to the need for a new office building and better access to affordable employee housing, Bridger-Teton officials are considering selling land on North Cache in Jackson and using the money to build new office space in Alpine, Afton, Pinedale or elsewhere in Jackson Hole. The Conservation Alliance believes the office should not be moved from Jackson. The possible detriment to cooperation with other land and wildlife managers in the valley, disruption to employees’ lives and our community, and precedent of selling off public lands to continue basic forest functions are all reasons to look long and hard at this issue. One solution is for the public to ask the Wyoming congressional delegation to step in and find a funding source for the new office that won’t require selling forest land. Comments to the National Forest Service were due by Feb. 14, but there’s still time to write the delegation (see below) and let them know your concerns. A decision on where the office will be moved is expected later this winter, and the NEPA process should begin shortly thereafter. Let your voice be heard. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin PRONGHORN MIGRATION CORRIDOR PROPOSED -- On March 6, Bridger-Teton supervisor Kniffy Hamilton proposed that the Forest Service designate a Pronghorn Migration Corridor through the B-T to help protect the Teton Park antelope herd's annual migration route. Details and a map of the proposed corridor are available under the heading "2008 NEPA Documents" at www.fs.fed.us/r4/btnf/projects. OTHER BRIDGER-TETON NEWS -- For updates on other current Bridger-Teton issues, please visit www.jhalliance.org/Library/Alerts/BTNFupdates.2-08.pdf. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 5) Meetings on Jackson-to-Teton Park pathway, 5-Way set for March Jackson Hole Community Pathways is preparing an environmental assessment for a multi-use pathway along Highway 89 between the Town of Jackson and the south boundary of Grand Teton National Park. They’ve scheduled an open house at Jackson Hole Middle School on March 11 from 4 to 8 p.m. to describe the project and accept comments from the public to help determine the scope of the assessment. Also, on March 13, Friends of Pathways is hosting a panel discussion on the redesign of the 5-Way intersection (at Broadway, Pearl and Flat Creek) featuring transportation experts Michael Ronkin and Michael Moule from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Town Council chambers, 150 E. Pearl. Later the same day, the two will also talk about transportation solutions applicable to Jackson Hole from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the County Commissioners' chambers, 200 S. Willow. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 6) WYDOT to discuss Hoback bridge options March 4 At a public open house on March 4, Wyoming Department of Transportation officials plan to introduce various types of bridges that are being considered to replace the current shaky one over the Snake River at Hoback Junction. WYDOT representatives plan to ask attendees to participate in a study to “guide the selection of a bridge type.” The meeting is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Hoback Fire Station. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 7) Conservation groups challenge decision to delist wolves With publication of the Northern Rockies wolf delisting rule in the Federal Register on Feb. 27, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has begun the final step in turning the management of wolves over to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Under the delisting rule, these states would assume authority to manage wolves on March 27. On behalf of a coalition of 10 groups, including the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, attorneys at Earthjustice have served the USFWS with a notice of intent to file a lawsuit challenging the agency’s decision to remove Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves from the list of threatened and endangered species. Our concern with the delisting action stems from the language written into the states’ management plans, and the comments made by officials that wolves will be “aggressively” managed and that “there will be fewer wolves in Wyoming” when managed by the state. Under Wyoming’s plan, if a wolf showed up only two miles southwest of Jackson’s Town Square, it could be killed as a predator by anyone, at any time, by any means. There’s no scientific evidence that wolves have depleted game herds, and livestock losses due to wolves in Wyoming in 2007 are nearly half that reported for 2006. Two recent independent economic reports concluded that visitors who come to the region just to see and hear wolves contribute at least $35 million annually to local economies. When the “multiplier” effect is factored in, annual revenues from wolf viewing rise to between $58 and $80 million -- far surpassing all costs of managing wolves, including compensating landowners for lost livestock. The coalition simply wants to ensure a healthy, non-inbred, sustainable population of wolves once they’re removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act. We want wolves to be managed like all other wildlife species -- not for some minimum required number just to keep them off the endangered species list, but at natural levels. We also want wolf management to be aimed at wolf conservation, with control actions taken only when necessary. The USFWS Northern Rockies Annual Report for 2007 should be available online in early March at www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/wolf. In preparation for delisting, Wyoming Game and Fish commissioners will be voting on the implementation of Chapters 21 and 28 of the Game and Fish Department regulations (wolf control and compensation rates) at their March 13 meeting in Casper. The next rounds of hearings and public comment periods dealing with hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits haven’t yet been determined. The Conservation Alliance will continue to closely monitor this issue and keep you informed. For background information, please visit: www.jhalliance.org/issueswolves.htm.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 8) County commissioners to vote on bear conflict amendment April 1 To deal with an increase in bear-human conflicts in the Jackson-Pinedale region (up from about 35 in 2006 to about 260 in 2007), Teton County commissioners have been evaluating regulations that would require homeowners in certain areas of the county to use bear-proof trash containers and reduce other bear attractants on private land. They’re now scheduled to vote on the Bear Conflict Mitigation and Prevention Amendment on April 1, 9 a.m., at the County Commissioners’ chambers, 200 S. Willow. In other bear-related news, we’re pleased to report that Wyoming Game and Fish commissioners passed a slightly modified black bear hunting season for the Jackson and Grays River bear management units during their mid-February meetings. Commissioners reduced the quotas recommended by Game and Fish Department staff. The Grays River spring season quota was reduced from a proposed 25 to 20, and the fall season quota was reduced from 14 to 12. The Jackson spring season quota was reduced from the proposed 16 to 13, but the fall season quota remained at 12. These might not seem like big changes, but we can all take some pride in knowing that we promoted a position that had merit for the commissioners. And most of all, we can thank them for taking into consideration the interests of the non-hunting public.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 9) Please Don’t Poach the Powder! Don’t forget -- many places are still closed to human traffic well into spring to protect wildlife. Please visit www.jhalliance.org/dontpoach.pdf for closure maps and information. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 10) Newest issue of Alliance News available online The Winter/Spring 2008 Alliance News magazine is now available online at www.jhalliance.org/library.htm. (Just click on the cover photo of the meadowlark.) Along with updates on many issues, it includes an informative special section on growth and the Comp Plan revision. You’re also welcome to stop by and pick up a free printed copy at the Alliance office, 685 S. Cache. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 11) Coming Events Rosie's
Ridge Cross-Country Ski Trip Wilderness in Wyoming:
Don’t Fence Me
Out Info Lunch – Natural
Resource Mapping and the Comprehensive Plan The Wolves of Lamar Valley National Museum of Wildlife Art to host talks
on Sage Grouse, Migration Staying Safe in Bear, Lion and Wolf Country
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 12) Valley Echoes “Perseverance is the hard
work you do -- Newt Gingrich
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Alliance Action is a publication of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance is dedicated to responsible land stewardship in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to ensure that human activities are in harmony with the area’s irreplaceable wildlife, scenic, and other natural resources. The Alliance is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. (If you no longer wish to receive this e-newsletter, please send a note saying you’d like us to remove your email address from our list to: allianceaction@jhalliance.org.)
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