For 40 years, the Alliance has served as the local watchdog to defend Jackson Hole from an endless parade of bad ideas: from oil/gas wells in Cache Creek to a dam that would have flooded Oxbow Bend, from malls in Kelly and at the Y to a huge commercial increase in downtown Jackson.
The Alliance was founded by regular people getting together to protect our community from these threats, and its strength has always been in its grassroots members and volunteers across the valley. Today, Jackson Hole faces unprecedented threats: over 500 animals struck and killed on our roads every year, cutting off key wildlife migration corridors; rural development consuming wildlife habitat and open space across our valley; powerful special interest groups pushing their extreme agenda to privatize our American public lands; a shortage of affordable homes that’s destroying our middle class; and transportation challenges tearing into our quality of life.
So in recent years, the Alliance launched the Conservation Leadership Institute (CLI), a 12-week hands-on training that teaches locals how to make a difference on issues they care about. And the Alliance started new programs like a candidate questionnaire, Voters’ Guide, and Accountability Checks to better engage community members in the critical decisions made by our local democracy.
Join the Alliance Watchdogs
The Alliance Watchdogs program is the next step in this civic engagement work: a new way for community members to make a difference on local issues together. The Watchdogs are teams of volunteers who will get involved in issues of common interest, keep up with those issues, hold our elected representatives accountable for making good decisions, and include and engage their friends and neighbors in the civic process.
As Thomas Jefferson said, “An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight.”
The Alliance will initially launch two Watchdogs groups: public lands & wildlife, and community planning & character. The Alliance also encourages community members to serve on volunteer boards & commissions such as the Town and County Planning Commissions, Lower Valley Energy board, START Bus board, etc.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Watchdogs program or if you would like to volunteer with a Watchdogs team, please email tisa@jhalliance.org.
