JACKSON—No detractors were found Thursday in the Teton County Commissioners Chamber, where residents praised a plan to lease a 640-acre swath of state land on Munger Mountain to keep it open to the public and undeveloped.
The occasion was a hearing of the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments, which is formally reviewing a 35-year “recreational lease” proposal that Teton County submitted to the state agency this spring.
Praise followed praise, as one Jackson Hole resident testified after the next. Leslie Peterson, a resident who spoke, recalled the “hundreds” of conservation issues she has worked on over many decades living in the area.
“I think I’m more proud of this effort than anything I’ve seen in all these years of ups and downs and trying and worrying and working for positive things,” Peterson said. “This one is up there… It’s really extraordinary.”
Peterson’s pride was precipitated by a chain of events that began with the Wyoming Legislature. During the agency’s 2020 budget session, lawmakers passed one of many bills that have targeted Teton County, this one directing the Office of State Lands and Investments to solicit development proposals for state trust lands in the county of Teton, with the goal of maximizing revenue.
One of the proposals that came in was from Bozeman-based glamping developer Under Canvas, which submitted a plan to erect more than 90 seasonal tents on 30 to 40 acres of the Munger Mountain parcel. The neighbors backed away and formed a group called Friends of Munger Mountain. They spent years networking and lobbying for a different fate for the tract of state land, which borders the Bridger-Teton National Forest and is largely undeveloped except for the Fall Creek Road corridor.
The Jackson Hole Land Trust became involved in 2021 and formally partnered with the Teton County commissioners to come up with a solution for the parcel. A breakthrough came during the 2022 election. That fall, voters approved a set of special-purpose tax ballot items, including an $8 million fund to pay for Munger Mountain’s lease and other conservation-oriented projects. .
Teton County commissioners unanimously approved the proposal to lease the land for $75,000 a year this spring, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reported. Now the State Land and Investment Office is considering the deal. The county proposed paying all 35 years of dues, $2.625 million, in full at the start of the lease. Calculating a 5.2% yield, the deal would give the Wyoming school trust account a total of nearly $15.5 million, according to the proposal. Currently, a grass lease on the land earns the state $1,900 a year.
“We’re still looking at this from a financial standpoint,” Office of State Land and Investments Director Jenifer Scoggin told attendees at Jackson’s hearing. “We’re reviewing the management plans… we’re trying to make sure the proposal is sustainable and compatible with some of the existing uses we have.”
Absent information that would significantly change the proposal, the plan is for the State Board of Land Commissioners to consider the lease at its Aug. 1 meeting, Scoggin said.
Some improvements
Teton County’s proposal is modeled after Albany County’s Pilot Hill Project, which included a recreational lease on state land near Laramie.
The Munger Mountain proposal does not include major changes to state lands as they are used today, although it does call for improvements to existing trails. A nearby network of trails in the Bridger-Teton National Forest sees between 150 and 400 users a day in the summer and fall, trail counters have found.
A trails plan included in the county proposal calls for integrating the 20 miles of existing national forest trails on Munger Mountain with the comparatively less used state land trails. In partnership with a local nonprofit group, Friends of Pathways, the county would build or rehabilitate 10 miles of trails, add some bridges and add new parking to the parcel.
There is also some vegetation work proposed, but that is about the extent of the physical changes to the land.
“We would invest heavily in weed control to combat the invasive weeds that are present,” Jackson Hole Land Trust President Max Ludington said at the hearing. “Then together, in consultation with Snake River Ranch, we would try to restore habitat for the benefit of that elk herd.”
Everyone who spoke at the Office of State Lands and Investments hearing supported the county’s proposal, including those elected to represent local interests in Cheyenne.
“He probably has unanimous support from the Teton delegation,” said Sen. Dan Dockstader (R-Afton). “We’re all for this, and we’re here to show that support… I’ll probably go to the August 1 meeting in Cheyenne as well to provide support and make sure this gets done.”
Written comments should be emailed to slfmail@wyo.gov. They must be delivered before 5 pm on June 28. Teton County’s proposal is available for review below.
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