$100 Million Deal to Protect Land in Grand Teton National Park
Wyoming has agreed to sell a one-square-mile parcel of land within the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park to the federal government for $100 million, effectively protecting the land from the threat of development. The so-called Kelly parcel had been a subject of negotiations for years, with conservationists hoping to permanently secure the land, which is situated in a migration corridor for pronghorn and elk and offers a sweeping view of the Teton Range.
The deal was made possible thanks to the efforts of the Grand Teton National Park Foundation, which raised about one-third of the $100 million needed, while the remainder came from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The agreement came about amid high-stakes negotiations and a ticking clock, as the park foundation feared that donors might drop their funding if there were further delays and a bloc of conservative lawmakers, newly sworn into the State Legislature, had signaled interest in scuttling the deal.
Wyoming had originally made plans to sell the land in an auction, potentially to a luxury home developer, but the deal was contingent on the federal government easing restrictions for development, including oil and gas drilling, on other federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Last week, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon certified that the federal government had met the conditions for the agreement, while also stating that he hoped to alter land-management plans with the incoming Trump administration. The revenue from the sale will be dedicated to public schools.