JACKSON HOLE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE
P.O. Box 2728
Jackson, WY 83001
(307) 733-9417
www.jhalliance.org
1/18/08
Most Jackson Hole residents and visitors agree that our communityÕs wildlife, nature and scenery are what make our valley unique.
ÒTeton CountyÕs wildlife and scenic resources are a local and national treasure, and, therefore, the community recognizes a stewardship responsibility for their protection,Ó reads the communityÕs Comprehensive Plan guiding principle No. 1. ÒFuture development in Teton County will take place in this context.
But has development taken place in that context? How have our communityÕs land development policies functioned in terms of protecting our local and national treasures? Going forward, what can our community do to preserve our wildlife and environment in the face of future growth?
On Thursday, January 24, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance will hold a public open house to unveil new natural resource maps aimed at helping the community answer some of those questions in light of the ongoing updates to the Teton County/Jackson Comprehensive Plan, a.k.a. ÒComp Plan.Ó The Comp Plan is the guiding government policy document to enable Jackson Hole to grow in a cohesive, broad context, as opposed to making planning decisions in a piecemeal fashion that forgets the big picture.
The maps focus in particular on the Comp PlanÕs ÒNatural Resource Overlay,Ó a zoning designation that is the single most important component of the 1994 Comprehensive Plan for protecting water quality, wildlife habitat and open space. Yet, despite intentions for frequent evaluation, our county has not had the capacity to update natural resource data or determine whether the Natural Resource Overlay, or NRO, is working as intended. Since its inception, 760 buildings were constructed in the NRO, a 42 percent increase from the amount of construction in those areas in all years prior to 1994.
Through its Natural Resources Overlay Mapping Project, the Jackson Hole Conservation
Alliance has worked with professional mapping technicians, planners, wildlife
officials, state agencies and others to gather the most up-to-date information
available about the Natural Resource Overlay. The organization has been looking
at areas that have already been developed, as well as undeveloped places most
critical to wildlife and the environment in the future. Since a picture is
worth a thousand words, the information is being presented in computerized
maps to illustrate how effective the Natural Resource Overlay has been and
whether our community can strengthen it for the future.
To create the maps with the most useful geographic information systems (GIS)
technology, the Conservation Alliance contracted with the Conservation Research
Center of the Teton Science Schools, a long-standing and well-respected conservation
education center in Jackson Hole. Funding for the project was generously provided
by The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, the Wyoming Community Foundation
and Conservation Alliance members.
The open house will run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance conference room, 685 S. Cache St. The evening will begin with a short staff-led discussion of the project, and then the public will have a chance to view and comment on various maps.
Alliance staff members said the maps are critical for consideration in the upcoming Comp Plan revisions. The GIS layers, which have been reviewed by a committee of local wildlife experts, will be offered for inclusion in updates to the seriously outdated NRO. The NRO includes such treasured resources as bald eagle nests, moose habitat, mule deer migration corridors and critical trout spawning areas.
ÒEven though 97 percent of Teton County is protected public land, wildlife
does not understand the boundaries between public and private land,Ó said Kristy
Bruner, the AllianceÕs Community Planning Director. ÒAll of the species identified
for protection in the Town and County Comprehensive Plan depend on private
lands to survive. They need corridors for migration between summer and winter
habitat, year-round access to forage and water, and large amounts of undisturbed
habitats.Ó
Private lands provide crucial habitat for all of the species identified for
protection in the Comprehensive Plan, according to a 1994 study funded by
the Conservation Alliance. Within Teton CountyÕs private lands occur 41 percent
of Jackson HoleÕs bald eagle nests, 43 percent of the crucial winter ranges
for moose, 90 percent of the mule deer winter range, 22 percent of crucial
winter ranges for elk, an estimated 80 percent of trumpeter swan crucial
winter ranges, and 64 percent of the spawning grounds for the Snake River
cutthroat trout.
ÒWe know conditions have changed dramatically since the first drawing of the
NRO map,Ó said Franz Camenzind, the Conservation AllianceÕs executive director.
ÒTodayÕs technology and new contributions to the science of habitat mapping
and wildlife ecology in the valley will allow the community to be much more
specific in defining those areas that are the most critical for wildlife habitat.Ó
Alliance Public Lands Director Louise Lasley said she believes the maps will
be enlightening for the community to see: ÒItÕs easy to think that because
Jackson Hole still has a great mix of wildlife populations and a large amount
of public lands, thereÕs no need to worry about protecting habitat on private
lands. These maps unequivocally show thatÕs not true.Ó
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 areaÕs irreplaceable wildlife, scenic and
other natural resources. The organization has 2,000 members from Jackson Hole
and across the nation.