JACKSON HOLE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE

P.O. Box 2728

Jackson, WY 83001

(307) 733-9417

www.jhalliance.org

10/10/07

Conservation Alliance Receives $3,500 to Help Fund
Natural Resource Overlay Mapping Project 

Jackson, Wyo. – The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance has been awarded a $3,500 grant from the Unrestricted Endowment Fund of the Wyoming Community Foundation toward a Natural Resource Mapping project. The project aims to review Teton County’s Natural Resource Overlay zone, the county’s most important tool for protecting water quality, wildlife habitat and open space where it matters for the environment.

The Conservation Alliance is a nonprofit organization serving Jackson Hole to ensure that the stewardship of public and private lands is responsible and in harmony with the area’s wildlife, scenic and other natural resources. Formed in 1979, the organization has over the years been one of the most stalwart proponents of responsible land-use planning and of public policies that protect Jackson Hole’s unique wildlife populations.

The WYCF grant will be used to help collect the most up-to-date information available from independent researchers, as well as local, state and federal agencies, regarding the Natural Resource Overlay, which includes such treasured features as bald eagles’ nests, moose habitat, mule deer migration corridors, and critical trout spawning areas.

Because wildlife, streams, wetlands and migration areas are often found in the same places people choose to build homes, the NRO was created in the early 1990s to identify and protect contiguous areas of private land so that species and water quality wouldn’t be lost to piecemeal development. Developments occurring within the NRO are supposed to have a higher level of environmental review than developments in other zones and may be asked to meet additional standards.

But has the zoning designation worked? Has the well-intentioned NRO been effective in maintaining the environmental resources the community set out to protect in creating the NRO and the overall vision for Jackson Hole? How accurate is the wildlife and habitat data in the county’s current NRO map compared to the latest research from our local, state and federal experts in identifying the most critical areas to be protected?

The NRO review project aims to answer those questions, while compiling the best available information and identifying gaps in information. The funding from the WYCF grant helps complete the match of a $15,000 challenge grant from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole to make this project possible. Other matching funds have come from private donors interested in seeing the project come to fruition.

In undertaking the project, the Conservation Alliance has partnered with geographic information system (GIS) specialists from the Conservation Research Center of the Teton Science Schools to produce maps, which are expected to be unveiled early this winter to help the community with Teton County’s Comprehensive Plan update process. The Conservation Alliance will also be working with a committee of community stakeholders and scientists to analyze the maps in a way that will be useful to county policymakers.

“We are thrilled to have received this Wyoming Community Foundation grant to aid us in completing this project,” said Anthony Stevens, Conservation Alliance Co-Chairman. “People often believe that because we have protected public lands around us, we don’t have to worry about what happens on the private lands in the valley. However, what happens on our private lands directly impacts this valley’s ability to maintain clean air, clean water, healthy wildlife populations and our quality of life. We are looking forward to seeing these maps come together so that we can discuss these issues openly as a community.”

The Wyoming Community Foundation is a charitable organization that builds and preserves funds established by individuals, families, corporations, agencies and private foundations. The Community Foundation uses the earnings from these funds to benefit community needs across the state of Wyoming. For more information, call (307) 721-8300 or visit their website at www.wycf.org.

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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.