When D.C. Makes Decisions, Teton County Lives With the Consequences

 Sometimes the distance between Washington, D.C. and Teton County, Wyoming can feel very short.

This weekend, the Washington Post reported that the Department of Interior and Major League Baseball were considering staging a professional baseball game in Grand Teton National Park and were already scoping sites in the park.

No permit has been issued, and the idea remains just that; an idea, a bad idea. But the fact that such a conversation held 2000 miles away that would deeply impact our community, not to mention the integrity of national parks illustrates a larger reality of living in Teton County.

So does what happened with the Snake River earlier this month.

Wyoming Game & Fish officials had been working with the Bureau of Reclamation on a gradual drawdown of Jackson Lake to reduce stranding of fish and aquatic insects. But when Idaho irrigators raised concerns, Reclamation changed course and reduced flows by roughly 1,200 cubic feet per second in a single day, nearly ten times the amount planned per day. The Jackson fisheries manager for Wyoming Game & Fish said his agency was not consulted before the change.

The local consequences were immediate. Snake River outfitters encountered channels too shallow to navigate normally. Commercial raft operators reduced passenger loads, affecting revenue and existing reservations. Anglers and fishing guides faced compromised conditions.

Perhaps there were legitimate reasons for Reclamation to change its plan. Perhaps not. That’s the point. These are difficult decisions involving water, wildlife, agriculture, recreation, energy and competing interests across counties and states. No single county should control resources that belong to the nation.

But Teton County lives with the consequences. That makes strong local engagement with federal land and resource managers essential.

A Seat at the Table

Federal and state agencies manage much of the land, water, and wildlife that define our economy, environment, and community quality of life.

County government cannot and should not tell those agencies how to manage public resources. But when their decisions affect wildlife, emergency services, roads, recreation, water quality, or our economy, Teton County has a responsibility to make sure local interests and knowledge are part of the process.

We have been doing exactly that.

When the Forest Service released its proposed decision for the Grand Targhee Resort expansion this year, Teton County filed a formal administrative objection seeking targeted changes to address unresolved impacts involving wildlife, water, transportation, emergency services and workforce housing.

When the federal government proposed rescinding the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, we objected again. Approximately 315,575 acres within Teton County are designated inventoried roadless areas. We opposed wholesale rescission while supporting active forest management, wildfire mitigation, public access and sustainable use. 

Importantly, local planning has already happened here. Teton County spent years participating in the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative, bringing together conservationists, sportsmen, recreationists, businesses, elected officials and other stakeholders. The County formally adopted those recommendations in 2018. 

If federal policy is going to invoke “local control,” it should pay attention when local communities have already done the difficult work of finding common ground.

From Reacting to Preparing

These experiences also point to what Teton County should do next. Too often, local government becomes deeply involved only after a federal proposal is floated or a decision announced. We need to be better prepared.

I believe Teton County should develop a Natural Resource Plan that clearly establishes our priorities for the public lands and natural resources that define, surround and sustain our community.

The plan would bring together work already done on wildlife habitat and migration corridors, rivers and water quality, wildfire, recreation, roadless areas, and public access. It would identify the science, existing County policies, and community priorities that should guide our positions when federal decisions affect Teton County. 

It would not give Teton County authority it doesn’t have. It would give us a clear, consistent, and publicly adopted framework for engaging the agencies that do.

We should not have to reinvent Teton County’s position every time D.C.  proposes a new rule, the Forest Service considers a major development, or a federal water manager changes operations on the Snake River.

We should know what we value, what the evidence tells us, what our community has already decided, and what we will ask of our federal partners.

The baseball proposal and Snake River drawdown are different issues. But they capture the same reality: decisions made far outside Teton County can have significant consequences here.

Teton County needs to be at the table before those decisions are made, because D.C. may make many of the decisions, but we live with them.

Thanks for your support, 

–Luther