Please take a moment and let local County Commissioners know that you believe wilderness in Teton County should be protected.
From our friends at the Sierra Club:
The last unprotected wildlands in Teton County, Wyoming, are poised for either massive recreational development or protection as Wilderness.
On September 4, Local County Commissioners will decide whether to recommend that Congress permanently protect these wildlands for wildlife and future generations — or open them up to inappropriate recreation at the expense of important wildlife and wilderness.
Nearly 400,000 acres of Forest Service lands in and around Jackson Hole, containing cutthroat trout streams, grizzly bears, and herds of migratory elk and deer, are at risk. Recreation interests want to turn these cherished national public lands into motorized playgrounds, which would permanently degrade some of the best wildlife habitats in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
You can read the plan in full here.
There are a few easy ways that you can help – but hurry! The deadline is September 3rd, 2018!
- Visit the Sierra Club website and send a message to the commissioners. It’s easy – they’ve got a template ready to roll, or feel free to add your own thoughts!
- Directly email your support letter to: commissioners@tetoncountywy.gov and to Commission Chair, Mark Newcomb, at mnewcomb@tetoncountywy.gov
If you need some ideas for what to include, here are a few suggestions to consider:
- The Teton Wyoming Public Lands Initiative (WPLI) Advisory Committee has completed its work, and forwarded three proposals to the Teton County Commissioners; none of the proposals received unanimous endorsement from the entire committee. The Teton Wildlands Conservation Plan, however, received the best overall score from the Advisory Committee. In fact, six conservation members of the Advisory Committee, representing conservation organizations with combined memberships of 4.6 million, voted strongly in favor of the TWCP.
- If the County Commissioners forward a recommendation to the Wyoming County Commission Association, they should forward the Teton Wildlands Conservation Plan, which proposes 254,000 acres of new Wilderness and 124,000 acres of roadless Teton Conservation Areas, and recommends minerals and timber withdrawals from all Forest Service lands countywide.
- This proposal, as evidenced by the official record of the advisory committee meeting Minutes and Summary, https://tetonwpli.org/committee/agendas-and-minutes/ was the result of a two-year effort that extensively considered and incorporated the input from all advisory committee members and public stakeholders. This Plan builds on the strong conservation heritage in Teton County.
- The Teton Wildlands Conservation Plan best complies with the Vision of the County Comprehensive Plan to steward a healthy ecosystem. It is the only proposal from the committee that recommends Wilderness for a large portion of the Palisades Wilderness Study Area (WSA).
- We need big protected landscapes and habitats to sustain wild cutthroat trout, grizzly bears, and migratory big game. The Teton Wildlands Conservation Plan complements the region’s other protected lands to protect large, intact, and healthy public lands.
- The threats to this ecosystem that we see today will only increase. Teton County’s wildlife, wildlands, residents, visitors, and national public lands deserve the best. The Teton Wildlands Conservation Plan will help us protect the ecosystem and meet the challenges of the 21st century and beyond.
