JACKSON HOLE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE

P.O. Box 2728

Jackson, WY 83001

(307) 733-9417

www.jhalliance.org

11/7/07 Jackson Hole News&Guide

Help Jackson Hole Define and Keep its Soul

By Kristy Bruner
Community Planning Director, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance

Following is a response to the  “Don’t Let the Hole Lose Its Soul” ads and some of the reactions that followed.  I personally have a great deal of respect for the people behind “Don’t Let the Hole Lose Its Soul” for the simple reason that their efforts demonstrate a citizen-based commitment to place.  They are investing their own time and money to challenge our community to reflect on the changes that Jackson Hole is experiencing and raising tough questions about how we as a community manage pressures for development and rapid growth.  At the onset of our Comprehensive Plan update, I believe their voice in stimulating dialogue about zoning, growth rates, defending natural resources, and sustainability comes at a critical time.  I am grateful to live in not only an incomparable place, but also amidst individuals that care enough to step up and give back to their community. Overall, they give back by calling for action to recognize and question the change around us that stands to irreparably alter what makes Jackson Hole special. I would argue that their general messages are anything but those of the “special interests” but are rather of the public and community interest.

In fact, recent surveys show that individuals concerned about the rate and impacts of growth are not a select few. Growth was a major concern voiced in both the June 2007 market research conducted for Teton Meadows Ranch (by RRC Associates) and the October 2006 Teton County Citizen Survey (conducted as part of the National Citizen Survey for Teton County).  Specifically, in the Teton Meadows Ranch research, respondents placed the highest level of priority on “growth/impacts of growth” and, secondly, “housing affordable for local employees” when asked about “issues as they relate to quality of life in Teton County.”  In the 2006 Citizen Survey, 73 percent of respondents felt that population growth in Teton County was too high (versus two percent as “too slow”).  When asked an open-ended question to name “the top three issues that Teton County leaders need to know about,” 37 percent of respondents identified “planning/zoning/rate of growth” and 49 percent of respondents identified “affordable housing/cost of living,” making these the two most frequently voiced issues. In general, these research findings point to the complexity of the demand and need for development, as it is perceived as both a solution and a trigger for community problems.   

It is easy to oversimplify our land use issues in Teton County as being people versus wildlife, or community health versus landscape health.  This divisive polarization of the issues will do little to help find viable solutions to the complex challenges of our circumstances. I believe that many people in our community care about the protection of both social diversity and our wildlands.  To label individuals as not caring about people or affordable housing just because they are concerned about the rate of growth or protecting natural resources is inaccurate.  If our problems are continuously ill defined and polarized, we will steer further away from real and viable solutions.  I believe that most people who are concerned about growth and change are not questioning whether or not it will happen, but rather how it will happen, and to what extent our community strategically shapes it.  Being strategic suggests thoughtful discussion about capacity, as well as the rate, magnitude and pattern of development in the long-term, and at the larger scale of Teton County.

As the concept of a community’s soul is simply too big for just one interpretation, I do not want to delve into a debate about what the soul of Jackson Hole should mean for everyone.  However, related to our Comprehensive Plan update, I’ll provide a few brief thoughts.  First, I envision the relationship between individuals and the landscape as embodying the soul of a place (not just the individuals or just the landscape). Our new Comprehensive Plan will lay the groundwork for a revised set of land development regulations that will largely define our relationship with the land, and to what extent we remain responsible stewards of the ecosystem that we occupy.  If we are effective stewards, I don’t think the soul of this place will be lost.  Secondly, I would say that the Hole will have lost its soul if the individuals within it, who are privileged enough to be a part of it, aren’t willing to be a part of shaping its future. 

Action, not apathy, will protect the soul of this place.

So, in some way, in whatever way your soul desires, participate in our Comprehensive Plan update.  Check out www.jacksontetonplan.com or attend tonight’s meeting at 6:00 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall to find out how you can get involved. 

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The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to responsible land stewardship to ensure that human activities are in harmony with the area’s irreplaceable wildlife, scenic and other natural resources. The organization has 2,000 members from Jackson Hole and across the nation.