JACKSON HOLE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE

P.O. Box 2728

Jackson, WY 83001

(307) 733-9417

www.jhalliance.org

9/27/06 Jackson Hole News&Guide

Protect Grand Teton National Park, Don't Pave Over It

By Fred Smith
Program Associate, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance

National Park Service’s dual mandate is to provide for the enjoyment of people and to conserve park resources so as to leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. This is no easy charge, especially when politics push this mandate too far in any one direction. Trying to explain to people in Jackson Hole who love pathways that they could have long-term ecological consequences in some places isn’t much easier.

I think there are many positive reasons for non-motorized pathways. They encourage muscle-powered transportation, promote human health, and provide places close to home for people to recreate without being concerned about having a run-in with an automobile. The pathway system in Jackson Hole will hopefully do much over time to reduce traffic congestion, help keep the air clean, and reduce sediment in our local streams.

But that doesn’t mean pathways are appropriate in every place, in every situation, especially when they could have big negative effects to Grand Teton National Park’s natural resources.

The park published its Transportation Plan Final Environmental Impact Statement in September. Unfortunately, instead of addressing transit, traffic and other transportation issues, the plan focuses almost entirely on constructing paved paths, separated in many cases up to 150 feet or more from the road. Grand Teton National Park’s proposal includes 42 miles of paved pathway through some of the most beloved and ecologically sensitive parts of the park, including in the Moose-Wilson corridor, the Willow Flats between Signal Mountain and Jackson Lake Dam, and as far north as Colter Bay.

Research shows that roads and pathways create barriers to wildlife and cause animals to avoid these areas because of noise and human presence. Unlike most of the existing pathways in Teton County, which were built inside already-disturbed road corridors, many of the proposed pathways will require Teton Park to break ground in undisturbed habitat.

If you think about the number of trees that will be cut in this proposal (17,900 to 23,000), the amount of pavement (enough for 11,088 parking spaces), and the potential impacts to wildlife and wetlands, it is a big environmental sacrifice.

I also worry about the politics at play when the current proposal is not designated as the “Environmentally Preferred Alternative” in the Park Service’s analysis. It falls far short of the Environmentally Preferred Alternative in terms of paving, tree cutting and wildlife disturbance. There is another alternative that would strongly benefit recreation and visitors’ experience, cause fewer environmental impacts and still meet the Park Service’s dual mandate.

The Conservation Alliance took a hard look at what best serves people’s transportation and recreation needs in light of the park’s mission and what best preserves the natural resources that makes Teton Park such a special place. We carefully weighed the pros and cons of pathway placement in each location.

This is why the Conservation Alliance supports a 20-mile, safe, separated path from Jackson via Moose to North Jenny Lake Junction, which includes the most heavily used sections of the park, offers the best views, and provides access to the most popular attractions. Additionally, this section would have little impact to dense forest or wetlands. We also support a comprehensive bus system in the park, which would do more to reduce congestion, automobile-wildlife collisions and air pollution than pathways will.

If we care about wildlife and providing an awe-inspiring, inclusive experience for all visitors, we need to strike a balance between something we truly need and everything we may want, especially if it could cause long-term environmental damage to a place that we all love. Unfortunately, the national park’s proposal doesn’t do this. It is weighted heavily on the side of recreation and development at the expense of wildlife habitat, scenery and the experience of the majority of park visitors.

Jackson Hole is unique for its abundance and diversity of wildlife. National parks, in many ways, are wildlife’s last refuge from the impacts of human activity. With all of the development occurring outside of the park, can we afford to allow huge, unnecessary impacts within Teton Park as well?

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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 area’s irreplaceable wildlife, scenic and other natural resources. The organization has 2,000 members from Jackson Hole and across the nation.