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1) Bridger-Teton
National Forest Updates • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1) Bridger-Teton National Forest Updates Forest Planning: The Forest Service seems to be trying an end run around a legal ruling requiring it to reinstate detailed environmental reviews during revision of forest management plans. Bridger-Teton officials have been working on a long-range plan for the forest since 2005. But they put the plan’s public process on hold this past spring after a federal judge tossed out Bush administration rules that allowed the Forest Service to plan uses, such as oil and gas drilling, without environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act. In response to the judge’s decision, in mid-August the Forest Service released a draft environmental impact statement on the planning process itself. However, its preferred alternative is identical to the rules the judge overruled in March. Go figure! The DEIS is available at www.fs.fed.us/emc/nfma/2007_planning_rule.html. The Conservation Alliance believes that preferred Alternative A (also referred to as the 2005 Forest Planning Rule) will NOT ensure a planning process that will protect our irreplaceable national forests and wildlife. Page iii of the DEIS provides comments made during scoping by people critical of Alternative A. Charts comparing the alternatives are on pages 28 to 38. Significantly, at the bottom of page 36 it says it would be “typical” under Alternative A for officials to “categorically exclude” proposed projects on the forest from the requirements of NEPA. Please send comments by the Oct. 22 deadline
to: Contact Louise Lasley, Alliance Public Lands Director, at (307) 733-9417 or louise@jhalliance.org for help with your comments or additional information. Wyoming Range: Earlier this summer, a Bridger-Teton official said the development of gas wells in the Hoback area of the Wyoming Range is probably inevitable, despite overwhelming public opposition. “People have said ‘Don’t let them drill,’ but that’s not really an option right now,” Big Piney District Ranger Greg Clark said. “Once the lease is issued, you’ve given [energy companies] certain rights that they can explore and exercise.” Clark’s statement highlights the need for federal legislation to protect the forest from future oil and gas leasing, and to begin a process by which existing leases could be bought out or retired. U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas had been working on such a bill before his untimely death from leukemia on June 4, and now the torch passes to Sen. John Barrasso, appointed by Gov. Dave Freudenthal to serve as Wyoming’s interim junior senator. Gov. Freudenthal has urged Wyoming’s congressional delegation to pass legislation withdrawing the Wyoming Range from oil and gas leasing, and you can help by adding your voice. Please tell Sen. John Barrasso, Sen. Mike Enzi and Rep. Barbara Cubin that Wyoming is already doing its part to meet the nation’s energy needs, and that responsible energy development means recognizing that some places are too special to drill. Here is their contact information: Elk Feedgrounds: At the end of July, the Forest Service published a “notice of intent” to study the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission’s request for a 20-year permit to run elk winter-feeding operations at seven feedgrounds on Forest Service land: Fish Creek, Pritchard (Dog) Creek, Muddy Canyon (Muddy Creek), Fall Creek, Alkali Creek, Upper Green River and Patrol Cabin. This scoping notice is required under the National Environmental Policy Act, which compels the Forest Service to analyze potential environmental impacts before taking action. The state operates 22 winter feedgrounds -- some on federal land -- in northwestern Wyoming to keep wildlife away from cattle feedlines and to help elk survive since human development has diminished natural winter range. As examples of issues to be considered, the scoping notice mentions impacts the elk will have on native vegetation and the possibility that seeds in hay might spread noxious weeds. It neglects to mention the greatest concern with continuing winter feeding: artificially concentrating elk on feedgrounds, which increases the spread of diseases, such as brucellosis. It also ignores the probability that the always fatal chronic wasting disease will infect the elk herds and thrive in the concentrated conditions. Lastly, the notice doesn’t mention that winter feeding and the consequent crowding of elk will attract wolves, which could result in the wolves being killed by the state. Please urge the Forest Service by the Sept.
17 comment deadline to analyze a full scope of
concerns, including those mentioned here, and
any others that you know of. Unless we give forest
officials clear direction regarding the scope
of their NEPA analysis, we risk perpetuating
this dangerous practice of winter feeding. Send
your comments to: Contact Alliance Public Lands Director Louise Lasley at (307) 733-9417 or louise@jhalliance.org for more information. The scoping document and map are available online at www.fs.fed.us/r4/btnf/projects. Motorized Travel Plan: Unrestricted motorized use is currently allowed on more than 250,000 acres of the northern part of the Bridger-Teton National Forest during the summer and fall. That use has resulted in miles of user-created trails, disturbed wildlife, habitat degradation, the spread of noxious weeds and increased soil sedimentation in trout streams. Forest officials are working on a travel plan to address these issues and would like the public to provide feedback on where motorized uses are and are not appropriate. Visit www.fs.fed.us/r4/btnf and click on “North Zone Travel Plan Revision” for details. Although the website states that comments were due Feb. 5, forest officials say they’re actually accepting them throughout the planning process at dwilkinson@fs.fed.us, or Attn. David Wilkinson, BTNF Travel Plan Process, P.O. Box 1689, Jackson, WY 83001. According to Wilkinson, the nearly 2,000 comments received so far have helped give direction to the planning team as they develop alternatives for a draft environmental Iimpact statement due out in January 2008. Forest officials are hosting a motorized field trip for the public south of Wilson on Sept. 8. Call the Jackson Ranger District at (307) 739-5544 for details. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 2) Snake River Headwaters Need Your Help The Snake Headwaters Legacy Act of 2007 (S. 1281), a bill to protect some 400 miles of 13 rivers and creeks in northwest Wyoming from degradation and dam building, needs your help to become law. Please visit www.jhalliance.org/issueswater.htm for details, and contact members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation to ask for their support: U.S. Sen. John Barrasso: 307 Dirkson Senate
Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510, • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 3) Comprehensive Plan Revision Public Kickoff set for September It's been more than 13 years since the Jackson/Teton County Comprehensive Plan was passed to guide our community’s growth and development, and protect its character, wildlife and scenery. Your input throughout the current revision process is vital! Please attend one of the following meetings to learn about how you can be involved in the coming year: September 10, 6-8 p.m., St. John’s Episcopal Church Fellowship Hall -- Clarion Associates, the Comp Plan consultant firm, will hold an informational open house for the general public. September 11, 3-5 p.m., Town Council Chambers, 150 E. Pearl, Jackson -- The Jackson Town Council and Teton Board of County Commissioners will meet with Clarion Associates to discuss the first steps of the update process, and evaluate what has and hasn’t worked under the 1994 Comp Plan. September 11, 6-8 p.m., Town Council Chambers, 150 E. Pearl, Jackson -- Town and County Planning Commission members will meet with Clarion Associates for a similar discussion. Further details are available at www.jacksontetonplan.com, or contact Alliance Community Planning Director Kristy Bruner at (307) 733-9417 or kristy@jhalliance.org.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 4) Targhee Leads List of County Development Issues The Conservation Alliance continues to monitor several county private lands matters. Here is a brief roundup of meetings at which you may share your concerns; you may also email comments to commissioners@tetonwyo.org. (All times and dates are subject to change -- please call Teton County at (307) 733-8094 for confirmation.) Grand Targhee Resort
Hearings -- Sept. 5, 9
a.m., County Commissioners’ Chambers, 200
S. Willow St., Jackson; and Sept. 26, 9 a.m.,
Teton County Library, 125 Virginian Lane, Jackson As a compromise, the Conservation Alliance suggested at the Aug. 8 hearing that instead of a permanent deed restriction on density, one tied to the renewal date of the ski area lease between the resort and Caribou-Targhee National Forest would be appropriate. In that case, after county approval, no further density increase could be granted until 2044. We believe this would allow the resort to build out, establish itself within the skiing market, and then a new generation of decision makers could decide the resort’s long-term future. The second meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Sept. 26 at Teton County Library. This will likely be when the final vote will be taken. If you share our concerns about the size of the resort and anticipated impacts to the wildlands surrounding this development, please attend these meetings and voice your concern. If you can’t attend, please send your comments to commissioners@tetonwyo.org. For more information, contact Alliance Executive Director Franz Camenzind at (307) 733-9417 or franz@jhalliance.org, or visit www.jhalliance.org/Library/PressReleases/GrandTarghee.6-07.htm. Snake River Canyon
Ranch -- Sept. 11, 9 a.m.,
County Commissioners’ Chambers, 200 S.
Willow St., Jackson The Conservation Alliance questions the residential nature of the new plan (and whether the density bonus is warranted), the increase in disturbance to Natural Resource Overlay lands, the overall change in the development pattern on the parcel, and the extent of development slated to occur within the 150 ft. setback of the Snake River. Ironically, the applicant proposes to build an environmental learning center within the setback. Minimum Lot Size Amendment -- Sept. 25, 9 a.m.,
County Commissioners’ Chambers, 200 S.
Willow St., Jackson In response, a county-level amendment has been proposed to “support the use of minimum lot or parcel size as a basic planning and zoning tool.” (A similar county proposal failed 3-2 in March 2006.) Earlier this summer, Wyoming enacted a requirement that family members must hold the lot for five years before they can sell. Locally, on May 15, county commissioners enacted an emergency regulation that allows the planning director to evaluate whether an applicant’s use of the exemption is legitimate. The proposed minimum lot amendment will go a step further by “closing the loophole that permits divisions of land to create parcels well below lot sizes permitted within the applicable zoning district.” The Conservation Alliance supports efforts to remedy some of the unintended consequences of this exemption. As stated in the planning staff’s report, “approval of this amendment would enhance the protection of natural and scenic resources by requiring all divisions of land smaller than 35 acres to cluster development and preserve open space, as intended by the Comprehensive Plan.” While there are other options for landowners to pursue higher densities (i.e., a planned residential development), they would have to go through the planning process, unlike subdivisions under the family exemption. Osprey Creek (old
Teton Village Road KOA) Development Proposal -- Oct.
2, 9 a.m., County Commissioners’ Chambers,
200 S. Willow St., Jackson The Conservation Alliance commends the developer for removing development from the NRO, which is a designation on town and county zoning maps that indicates lands with special wildlife values. The Alliance supports upholding the NRO, including the regulation that a PUD-AH cannot occur within the NRO. We also continue to support a big-picture approach to natural resource protection, and therefore question plans to build 80 units on a 15-acre parcel that includes mostly “rural zone” lands intended for low density. The Alliance also questions the apparent lack of procedural guidelines to enable expansion of the NRO boundary when site-specific analyses identify additional non-NRO mapped lands as being equally important to the protection of natural resources (as in the case of the northwest corner of this parcel). For more information on the above items, please contact Kristy Bruner at the Conservation Alliance at kristy@jhalliance.org or (307) 733-9417. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 5) Affordable Housing Measures Proposed Amendment to Increase
Affordable Housing Requirements
-- Sept. 10, 3-5 p.m., Town Council Chambers,
150 E. Pearl The Conservation Alliance supports raising Teton County standards to help solve the affordable housing problem in Jackson Hole. As the Urban Land Institute warned in their 2000 report “Teton County, Wyoming – Strategies for Addressing Future Growth,” substandard mitigation rates have resulted in dire consequences for our community. It’s time to heed the 2007 Housing Needs Assessment (available at www.tetonwyo.org/housing), which recommends increasing the mitigation rate to 40 percent. (For comparison, in Aspen, Colo., 60 percent of new housing units are required to be affordable.) If mitigation doesn’t keep pace with the associated impacts of new developments, the impacts get displaced elsewhere in our community, intensifying pressures to develop in inappropriate locations, in inappropriate densities, and posing great risk to wildlife and rural character. For these reasons, we support the Housing Authority’s efforts to increase mitigation, and we will push for further commitment in the Comprehensive Plan update process. Affordable Rent vs.
Affordable Home Ownership?
-- Workshop tentatively scheduled for Sept. 17,
3-5 p.m., Town Council Chambers, 150 E. Pearl As more and more condo conversions are proposed, effective development regulations will be critical. At a Town Council workshop on Aug. 20, planning staff presented conversion policies adopted in Colorado that work to address some of the consequences that can arise as a result of “condominiumization.” Christine Walker of the Teton County Housing Authority also told the council that even if converted units were initially affordable, their value would likely quickly escalate beyond the reach of Teton County’s middle class, thus increasing the potential loss of critical workforce housing. The discussion will continue at the next Town Council workshop, tentatively set for Sept. 17. Contact Kristy Bruner, Alliance Community Planning Director, at kristy@jhalliance.org or (307) 733-9417 for more information. (Since meeting dates and times are subject to change, please call Teton County at (307) 733-8094 or the Town of Jackson at (307) 734-3993 for confirmation.)• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 6) Update on Town’s Tallness In the August Alliance Action, we reported that the Jackson Town Council would consider a text amendment on Aug. 6 to increase the building height from 35 to 42 feet in commercial zones, as well as open up these zones to residential uses. However, just prior to that meeting, the agenda was modified so that the amendment would not include a height increase component. According to Jackson’s interim planning director Jeff Noffsinger, the agenda changed because “On July 30, the Town Council and Planning Commission met in a joint session to discuss development issues related to the North Broadway neighborhood. One particular item was increasing building heights to 42 feet in this particular area. Since there were conflicts with this discussion and the proposed text amendment to increase building heights to 45 feet in the Urban Commercial zoning district, staff felt it was appropriate to pull the proposed height increase from the Aug. 6 Town Council staff report.” Council members did vote to allow residential uses on the second and third stories of buildings in commercial zoning districts to increase housing opportunities in Jackson. Also during August, the Town Council denied an amendment to increase the maximum square footage for lodging units in the lodging overlay, and approved the Pine Glades sketch plan. Please see page 20 of the Fall 2007 Alliance News, available at www.jhalliance.org/library.htm for more information.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 7) Bear Conflicts Addressed Drought conditions, a shortage of berries and acorns, and increased development in bear country have driven bears to town in search of food, escalating conflicts with people. Game and Fish has reported more than 60 bear conflicts this year, already twice as many as last year’s total. In response, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Teton County have collaborated on an amendment to increase protections for bears. The Bear Conflict Mitigation and Prevention Amendment establishes garbage, landscaping and bear-attractant standards as a condition of approval for new development proposals. The stringency of these standards varies depending on which “conflict priority zone” (among three proposed zones based on Game and Fish data) the development falls in. The Alliance strongly supports these proactive efforts to minimize conflicts with bears and commends these agencies for taking this first step. We hope that modifications will address compliance and enforcement issues, as well as administration and updating of the proposed zones. The County Planning Commission will hear the amendment on Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. in the County Commissioners’ Chambers, 200 S. Willow St., Jackson. For more information, please visit www.tetonwyo.org/plan and click on the link in the “Announcement” box. The Teton Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to hear the amendment on Oct. 9 at 9 a.m.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 8) Fall Alliance News Available Online A PDF of the Fall 2007 issue of Alliance News magazine, which contains details on all the above items, plus a special section on water issues, is now available at www.jhalliance.org/library.htm. Printed copies are also available at the Alliance office, 685 S. Cache St. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 9) Upcoming Events SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 SEPTEMBER 27-29 SEPTEMBER 28-29 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (Back to top) 10) Valley Echoes “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” - Albert Camus
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Alliance Action is a publication of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance is dedicated to responsible land stewardship in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to ensure that human activities are in harmony with the area’s irreplaceable wildlife, scenic, and other natural resources. The Alliance is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. (If you no longer wish to receive this e-newsletter, please send a note saying you’d like us to remove your email address from our list to: allianceaction@jhalliance.org.)
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