Grand Teton National Park Foundation announced the completion of today’s sale after spearheading a $37.6 million drive for private funds.
By Angus M. Thuermer Jr. WYOFILE
The federal government bought Wyoming’s 640-acre Kelly Parcel school section for $100 million today, a transaction that will see the wildlife-rich property that lawmakers had proposed for commercial development, instead preserved as part of Grand Teton National Park.
The U.S. Department of the Interior and the Grand Teton National Park Foundation announced the completion of this morning’s sale after the foundation spearheaded a $37.6 million drive for private funds to augment $62.4 million in federal conservation money.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland called the transaction “an incredible milestone, decades in the making.” In a statement, she said the purchase “will benefit our public lands and Wyoming’s public school students for generations to come.”
Grand Teton Superintendent Chip Jenkins, who had traveled the state to lobby residents for the preservation initiative, thanked the foundation. “We simply would not be here today without them and the thousands of people who raised their voice in support of conserving this important part of the park,” he said in a statement.
Three unnamed families made key “lead” gifts, the Grand Teton National Park Foundation said while the National Park Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (through Walmart’s Acres for America Program) and the Jackson Hole Land Trust boosted the drive. Almost 400 donors, from 46 states, gave anywhere from $10 to $15 million, the foundation said in a statement.
“We are in awe,” Grand Teton National Park Foundation President Leslie Mattson said of the many contributions. “We are so proud to have helped enable this incredible achievement for the American people, Grand Teton National Park, and the state of Wyoming.”
The parcel lies at the mouth of the Gros Ventre River Valley and is used by migrating pronghorn, mule deer, elk and other species. In considering how to maximize the financial benefit to Wyoming from state-owned property, some officials mulled state commercial development or advocated for a public auction that could have led to private ownership and construction of an exclusive subdivision.
Some Wyoming politicians, wary of federal land management policies and holdings in Wyoming that amount to about 48% of the state, sought unsuccessfully to bargain the parcel for federal coal lands.
To close the sale, The Conservation Fund provided a bridge loan. The loan enabled the Grand Teton National Park Foundation to accept multi-year pledges, the group said.
The U.S. Department of the Interior provided the federal money through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The square-mile section was the largest piece of unprotected land inside Grand Teton, the foundation said, and had been the target of conservation efforts since the 1990s. The late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas passed federal legislation in 2003 enabling the transaction and the Wyoming Legislature this year conditionally authorized the sale.
The parcel became school trust land upon Wyoming’s statehood on July 10, 1890, and as mandated by the state constitution, was earmarked to generate funds for school children and several institutions.
The foundation thanked supporting stakeholders from across the state, including conservation and sports organizations, state legislators and leaders, Gov. Mark Gordon and Sen. Mike Gierau (D-Jackson).
