Read Our Official Comment Letter
Brief history:
Karns Meadow is a 41-acre parcel of largely undeveloped land containing Flat Creek in the middle of the Town of Jackson. The Karns family sold the property to the Town of Jackson in eight separate parcels between 2003 and 2009, and partnered with the Jackson Hole Land Trust on conservation easements that define the conservation values and permitted uses for each parcel. The Map below shows the Karns Meadow area, vegetative cover type, and various pathway alignment alternatives, including the alignment initially identified in the easements (town of Jackson Town Council Agenda Documentation, Feb. 5th, 2018).
To guide any future use and/or development of the meadow, the Town of Jackson and the Jackson Hole Land Trust commissioned an Environmental Assessment (EA) of Karns meadow that was completed in 2019 by Jackson-based EcoConect consultants. The analysis argues for a careful and deliberate approach to managing the meadow, stating that the “gains to our community may be outweighed by the impacts to wildlife habitat.”
The value of Karns for wildlife:
Karns meadow is known to be a wildlife hotspot – containing the valuable and sensitive watercourse for Flat Creek as it travels under the Broadway bridge and meanders through the 41-acre meadow containing native willows, grasses, forbs, cottonwoods, and shrubs. Not surprisingly, Karns meadows acts as a high-quality habitat refuge right in the middle of Town. In fact, as the original Natural Resource Inventory document states, “the property’s location is within the only reach of Flat Creek remaining in the Town of Jackson that is natural on both banks and surrounding environs… The manner in which the Property is conserved will, to a degree, determine the function and health of the entire Flat Creek drainage” (Segerstrom and Dittmar, 2003).
Given Karns meadow’s immense wildlife value, the comprehensive plan designates the meadow as a “Preservation” subarea that “should continue to serve as wildlife habitat and a key wildlife movement corridor in the future (Comp Plan IV-41).
This is where the future of Karns meadow gets tricky. On behalf of the Karns family, Pete Karns reiterated his family’s intentions in a News and Guide guest shot in 2018. “We want this great community to thrive; and we want the Karns Meadow to be used by the people of Jackson and not just the wildlife who live there. “
So how does our community move forward balancing the needs of wildlife and the desires of humans?
This is our big question, not only for Karns Meadow, but for the larger Greater Yellowstone Region — ecosystems that we may be loving to death…
The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance believes that in balancing these priorities, we should give wildlife needs a higher consideration than human wants.
The Conservation Alliance advocates minimizing the negative impact on wildlife habitat and movement corridors (through development and human use). We are encouraging the following actions:
- A pathway that does not encircle the meadow.
- Minimizing impermeable (paved) surfaces.
- Contain as much infrastructure as possible next to the bus barn (parking area, public bathroom) rather than on the meadow parcels.
- Instate a winter closure of the interior of the meadow (area between Flat creek and Broadway).
- Town enforcement of a no camping policy in the meadow during summer.
- No dogs allowed in the park to reduce wildlife conflict.
Again, public comment will also be accepted on the Engage Teton County website until March 31st.
References:
EcoConnect Consulting. (May 28, 2019). Karns Meadow Environmental Analysis.
Jackson & Teton County Comprehensive Plan. Updated November 2nd, 2020. Originally approved April 6, 2012.
Town of Jackson Town Council Agenda Documentation. (February 5th, 2018). Karns Meadow – Various Project Components and Environmental Analysis.
Segerstrom, T. and P. Dittmar. (2003) Natural Resources Inventory for the Karns Meadow Property. Report prepared by the Jackson Hole Land Trust.