|
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
1) Check
out our Summer Alliance News magazine! • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1) Check out our Summer Alliance News magazine! Our Summer 2011 Alliance News magazine is now available online via www.jhalliance.org/library.htm! (Just click on the image of the great gray owl.) You’re also welcome to stop by our office at 685 S. Cache any weekday to pick up a printed copy. Along with updates on Jackson Hole's many conservation issues, the magazine includes a special section on "Saving Open Spaces" that discusses why permanently protecting the remaining open space on Jackson Hole's private lands is so important, and explores ways that our community might accomplish this. Check it out! • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 2) Picnic Supper under the Tetons rescheduled for July 16 Originally set for June 25, our annual “Picnic Supper under the Tetons” fundraiser has been postponed to Saturday, July 16, 4 to 7 p.m., due to a scheduling conflict with another community event. Click here for the flier or contact Lara Volovsek at (307) 733-9417 or development@jhalliance.org for details. See Coming Events below for information on other gatherings this month. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 3) Newest Comp Plan closer, but still no cigar (UPDATE: A revised version of the May 20, 2011, draft Comp Plan policies section was released the evening of June 22. (Click here for a link to it.) This newest version doesn't appear to substantially address concerns about the May 20 draft, which clearly outlined our community’s top priorities -- protecting wildlife and open space, and managing growth responsibly -- but lacked clarity about how, when and by whom those goals will be carried out. You can make comments on the newest draft at www.jacksontetonplan.com/comments, or show up and speak up at the following public hearing: Wednesday, June 29: 5 to 9 p.m., Comprehensive Plan Joint Information Meeting #10, Grandview Lodge at Snow King Resort. Planning staff will present the latest version of the draft, highlighting recent changes, and public comment will again be taken. The town and county elected officials have said they intend to adopt the policies section, if it’s ready. The Alliance submitted our comments on the June 22 draft on June 24. Please click here for a link to them, and for links to Comp Plan consultant Alan Richman's comments on the May 20 draft plan, and to the Alliance's line-by-line comments on that draft. We submitted both of those on June 3. Click
here for a 30-minute interview
with planning expert Alan Richman outlining his
concerns regarding the elected officials' draft
plan; it aired on Jackson Hole's community radio
station KHOL on Tuesday, June 28.) Original May 2011 Alliance Action item on the Comp Plan: Released on May 20, the latest draft of the policies section of the Jackson/Teton County Comprehensive Plan clearly outlines our community’s top priorities -- protecting wildlife and open space, and managing growth responsibly. However, unless our elected officials clarify exactly how, when and by whom those goals will be carried out, the new plan won’t achieve them. The draft plan still needs: - Mechanisms to ensure that the valley’s open, rural spaces will be permanently conserved in return for allowing more density in areas that already have some development. - Stronger, more effective policies to actually manage growth, not just monitor and react to growth. - Policies to provide a more proactive approach to wildlife protection. If you care about making Jackson Hole a more successful community, please let your elected representatives know right now that we need a plan that includes more effective policies to accomplish our shared goals. View the latest plan and comment online now at www.jacksontetonplan.com. (Written comments submitted by June 3 will be included in the staff report for the elected officials to review before the June 7 meeting noted below.) You can also write the electeds directly and copy your letter to the local newspapers; contact information is available at www.jhalliance.org/takeactioncontacts.htm. Then, show up and speak up at this critical hearing: Jackson Town Council and Teton Board of County
Commissioners This hearing will be your final chance to make verbal comments on the draft plan before the electeds direct staff to make changes to the document. Need help with your comments? The Alliance is hosting a Comp Plan open house on Monday, June 6, noon to 1 p.m. at our office, 685 S. Cache. Also, be sure to check back here after June 3 for a link to both our written comments and an analysis of the plan by Alan Richman, an independent consultant who specializes in community planning issues. (UPDATE: Click here for links to Comp Plan consultant Alan Richman's comments on the May 20, 2011, draft plan, and to the Alliance's line-by-line comments on the draft. We submitted both of these on June 3.) What’s next? The town and county elected officials have decided that when the Comp Plan becomes official, it will include two sections -- one for policies and one for character district maps. They intend to adopt the policies section first, but it won’t go into effect until the maps are completed. Since many of the important decisions with regard to land use policies have been left to be determined in upcoming discussions regarding the character district map section of the plan, your continued involvement is critical. Below is a tentative schedule of relevant dates: Through June 6: Planning staff is offering a series of open houses on the new draft. See www.jacksontetonplan.com for meeting times and locations. June 6: Noon to 1 p.m., Alliance open house on the new draft Comp Plan, 685 S. Cache St. June 7: 5 to 9 p.m., Comp Plan Joint Information Meeting #9, Grandview Lodge at Snow King Resort. The draft plan will be presented and public comments taken. The process for coming up with the character district maps is also expected to be discussed. June 15: Noon to 1 p.m., Alliance Info Lunch on the new draft Comp Plan, 685 S. Cache St. June 29: 5 to 9 p.m., Comprehensive Plan JIM #10, Grandview Lodge at Snow King Resort. Staff will present the draft once again, highlighting recent changes, and public comment will again be taken. The electeds intend to adopt the policies section, if it’s ready. July through December: The character district maps are tentatively set to be devised and reviewed. End of December: The electeds say they expect to formally adopt and implement the Comp Plan in its entirety by the end of 2011. After December: The process of updating the town and county land development regulations will begin. Meanwhile, keep posted by tuning in to Jackson Hole community radio station KHOL at 89.1 FM each Wednesday at 4 p.m. for “Comp Plan Uncomplicated,” the Alliance’s weekly 5-minute spots on the Comprehensive Plan. Click here for links to all the shows in the series, and for background information on the Comp Plan revision. Click here for links to all of the Alliance's comments regarding the revision to date. Please also consider supporting the Alliance’s work on the Comp Plan by buying one of our special coffee mugs -- visit www.jhalliance.org/join.htm and click on “Comp Plan mugs” for details. Thanks!• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 4) Other community planning news As usual, in addition to the Comp Plan, the Alliance is keeping tabs on a number of other community planning matters. Here’s a partial roundup, but please keep in mind that all meetings are subject to change. Call the Town of Jackson at (307) 733-3932, Teton County at (307) 733-8094, or reach Becky Tillson at Rebecca@jhalliance.org or (307) 733-9417 for confirmation. Also, this list isn’t exhaustive, since many meeting agendas aren’t finalized until shortly before the meetings take place. Check back or visit www.ci.jackson.wy.us and www.tetonwyo.org for updates. If you’d like to comment on any of these items, contact information for all local public officials is available at www.jhalliance.org/takeactioncontacts.htm. June 6: Jackson Town Council and Teton Board of County Commissioners joint information meeting, 2 to 5 p.m., Town Hall, 150 E. Pearl. The agenda for this meeting should be available shortly by clicking here. June 7: Teton Board of County Commissioners hearing, 9 a.m., County chambers, 200 S. Willow. (UPDATE: This hearing has been postponed to July 5, same time and place.) The commissioners are expected to consider an application for a conditional use permit to allow up to 140 recreational park trailers (RPTs) at the 20-acre Buffalo Valley RV Resort near Moran. Two different applications for permits allowing year-round RPTs in existing private campgrounds have recently been filed. (Although they look and function like cabins, the 400-square-foot RPTs are built on a single chassis and can be towed by a light-duty truck.) The other application proposes putting 71 of the trailers at the approximately 9-acre Jackson Hole Campground on the Moose-Wilson Road. Because of the potential impacts of allowing such changes from what has primarily been seasonal campground use, the Alliance is monitoring both proposals closely. Our comments on this issue are available via www.jhalliance.org/library.htm. Encouragingly, two citizens -- Gail Jensen and Dave Coon -- have appealed a county planning staff decision that is being used as the basis for the scope of these two proposals. The county commissioners’ May 17 decision to hear part of this appeal has delayed the first application, but not the one for the Buffalo Valley campground. The full agenda for the commissioners’ June 7 meeting is available by clicking here. June 14: Wyoming Department of Transportation “STIP” presentation, 1:30 p.m., WYDOT office on Evans Rd., south of Jackson. This discussion of the Statewide Transportation Improvements Program will outline the 10-year plan for WYDOT’s projects, broken down by county, dollar amount and timeline. This is our chance to see what WYDOT’s plans are for reconstruction projects on Highways 22 and 390. June 15: Jackson Planning Commission meeting, 5:30 p.m., Town Hall, 150 E. Pearl. The town planning commissioners are scheduled to discuss an amendment to the master plan for “The Refuge,” a planned mixed-use development slated for North Cache. The applicant is seeking approval to change the PMD from a “Condotel” project to a more conventional hotel operation. June 20: Jackson Town Council workshop, 3 p.m., Town Hall, 150 E. Pearl. The town councilors will again discuss major zoning changes covering a large portion of town. In May, they decided to move ahead with new rules that would essentially allow the subdivision of several hundred residential lots in three zoning districts near downtown -- the auto-urban residential, business conservation, and auto-urban commercial within the lodging overlay zones. Currently, property owners within this large area are allowed to build one primary, single-family unit and two accessory residential units per lot. Current rules allow for only one owner of all the units on each lot; the new proposed “Cottage House” rules would allow property owners to sell one of the units to a separate owner. Some seven years in the making, the new rules stemmed from efforts to attract investment to the area and encourage more owner-occupied homes in town. However, the Alliance is concerned that without deed restrictions, the zoning changes being proposed could inflate land values and housing prices, and displace workers who now rely on the units as affordable rentals. We also think zoning changes of this magnitude should take place as part of our community’s Comp Plan discussions, or wait until after the new plan is finalized. At their May 16 workshop, the town councilors directed the planning staff to revise an ordinance proposed by the Jackson Planning Commission. Notably, they wanted staff to remove specific architectural standards, to allow the units to be either townhomes or condos, and to generally make the regulations less stringent. If the changes made by staff are acceptable to the councilors, the ordinance will be brought before them for the first of three readings at 6 p.m. that same day. June 20: Jackson Town Council meeting, 6 p.m., Town Hall, 150 E. Pearl. The town councilors are expected to hear the first reading of the “Cottage House” ordinance described above. They may also discuss “The Refuge” master plan amendment (see June 15 item above).• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 5) First step of vegetation mapping project completed To protect the wildlife species that make Jackson Hole so unique, it’s crucial to protect the habitat -- and habitat connectivity -- they depend on. The more information we have to help identify that habitat, the more successful our efforts for wildlife protection will be. Vegetation mapping is a great way to see how much and what type of wildlife habitat exists here, and to monitor the changes in availability of the habitat over time. Thanks to a generous grant from 1% for the Tetons, the Conservation Alliance and Craighead Beringia South were recently able to contract with Ecosystem Research Group (ERG), a Missoula, Mont., research institute, to carry out a vegetation mapping project covering Teton County, Wyo., and Teton County, Idaho. The product, a Geographic Information System (GIS) map that is consistent and uniform across both counties, shows broadly what types of vegetation cover we have. Although many excellent datasets already exist for various areas of the two counties, their utility for this project was limited by inconsistencies in their various scales, and in the types and classes of vegetation measured. ERG used a national dataset called LandFire, which has been collected for all of the land across the United States, along with information about wetlands, slope and aspect, and soils. This project was a first step -- a baseline -- for collecting vegetation data about the two counties in their entirety. Moving forward, the Alliance is pursuing additional
grants and other funding to build upon this initial
project. The long-range goal is for our community
to have updatable maps that show: Decision makers could use all of this information to set priorities for conservation. For example, land with habitats that serve multiple species, or habitats that serve species most at risk, might be identified as places needing extra protection. The data might also help conservation buyers locate those parcels most critical for wildlife. The GIS map, with all of its accordant layers, was given to Teton County’s Natural Resources Technical Advisory Board to be considered in their ongoing vegetation mapping work. We’ll be posting the report and a sampling of the maps on our website later this summer.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 6) Comments sought on Yellowstone winter-use plan The preferred alternative in Yellowstone National Park’s new draft winter-use plan would allow a maximum of 330 best available technology (BAT) snowmobiles and 80 snowcoaches per day in the park for about half of the winter season. The rest of the season would see maximums of between 110 and 220 snowmobiles, and 30 to 80 snowcoaches per day. Park Service officials say the varying levels of use will let them observe how park resources -- such as wildlife, habitat and air quality -- react to the different levels, and aid “learning through management.” The alternative also retains current requirements that all snowmachine trips be guided, and that the trips be restricted to existing park roads groomed for oversnow vehicles. Use of BAT snowmobiles would continue, and a new limit on nitrogen oxide emissions would be implemented. Visit http://parkplanning.nps.gov/yell and click on “Winter Use Plan/EIS” for details and information about how to comment by the July 18 deadline, and for the schedule of public meetings about the new plan, including one set for June 1, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Virginian Lodge, 750 W. Broadway, Jackson.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 7) Good news, bad news, good news for Wyoming Range? Conservationists breathed a sigh of relief this past January when Bridger-Teton National Forest Supervisor Jacque Buchanan decided to cancel energy leases on 44,720 acres on the Wyoming Range, saying that development there would cause unacceptable impacts to air quality and wildlife. However, a coalition of energy companies and their trade group, the Western Energy Alliance, along with the Sublette County Commissioners, appealed Buchanan’s decision. Also, U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and other members of Congress asked Regional Forester Harv Forsgren to rescind the decision, on the grounds that it was bad for the country’s energy independence and security. On May 5, Buchanan reversed her decision to cancel the leases, citing the need for more analysis. In a Bridger-Teton press release, Buchanan said, “Withdrawing the Record of Decision will allow further evaluation of several key issues, including, but not limited to, the potential impacts to air quality, lynx habitat and mule deer migration routes. Another decision will be forthcoming.” Although this action may represent a setback, it could also offer some unique opportunities. The new supplemental analysis would likely have to take into account air quality and other impacts from yet another new energy development (the 3,500-well “Normally Pressured Lance” natural gas field) being proposed south of Pinedale. We anticipate that the additional environmental analysis will provide even stronger evidence against drilling, and this could bolster arguments for protecting other areas of the Wyoming Range that are also at risk, such as the Noble Basin area where Plains Exploration and Production Company is proposing to drill 136 natural gas wells. (Visit www.wyomingrange.org for more about PXP’s plan.) We’ll keep you posted at www.jhalliance.org/allianceaction.htm as this issue plays out.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 8) Fate of state-owned land in Teton Park hinges on funding This past winter, following many efforts by Teton County legislators and others, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead signed a bill allowing the state to sell 1,405 acres of school trust lands to the Interior Department for inclusion in Grand Teton National Park. Since these are parcels that could otherwise end up being developed, it’s key for the federal government to work out a payment plan, but the nation’s budget woes may throw a wrench into the works. Please consider urging Wyoming’s Congressional delegation to seek the $107 million it will take to buy and protect these inholdings in Teton Park, while benefiting the state’s schools. Specifically, the delegation needs to take a leadership role in seeking congressional appropriations from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to secure a down payment. Please ask them to support and preserve the $10 million line item in President Obama’s 2012 budget for this purpose by June 10. Contact information for Sens. John Barrasso and Mike Enzi and Rep. Cynthia Lummis is available at www.jhalliance.org/takeactioncontacts.htm.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 9) Strategies proposed to preserve Greater Yellowstone’s whitebark pine On May 31, a subcommittee of the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee released a report on strategies to protect whitebark pine, a foundation species that is currently at risk from white pine blister rust and mountain pine beetles. Whitebark pine is an important species because: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 10) Alliance seeks development director The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance is looking for a passionate and skilled person to lead our fundraising and development efforts. Interested? Click here for details. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 11) Coming Events Each Wednesday in June, starting June 1 Saturday, June 4 Sunday, June 5 Monday, June 6 Wednesday, June 8 Wednesday, June 15 Thursday, June 23 Summer 2011 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 12) Valley Voices “If you’re lucky enough to live in the mountains, you’re lucky enough.” - Anon.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Alliance Action is a publication of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. The Conservation Alliance is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to responsible land stewardship in Jackson Hole to ensure that human activities are in harmony with the area’s irreplaceable wildlife, scenic, and other natural resources. We’re located at 685 South Cache Street in Jackson, Wyoming. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 2728, Jackson, WY 83001-2728 and our phone number is (307) 733-9417. If you'd like to sign up to receive our monthly Alliance Action via email, please click here. |
|
Home | About
Us | Take
Action | Issues | Monthly
Agenda | Events | Success
Stories | Library | Maps | Join
and Donate |