Environmental groups appeal proposed land swap
Copyright 2001 Associated Press
February 27, 2001
SALT LAKE CITY - Environmental groups have appealed a Forest Service official's approval of a land swap involving Grand Targhee Resort in northwest Wyoming.
Targhee National Forest Supervisor Jerry Reese in December approved the deal that would give the resort 120 acres of forest land at its base in exchange for 400 acres at Squirrel Meadows near Yellowstone National Park's southern boundary.
The Squirrel Meadows property is considered to be prime habitat for the grizzly bear.
Led by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, environmental groups on Monday appealed Reese's decision to Jack Blackwell, the regional forester in Ogden, Utah.
The environmentalists say they do not expect to prevail in the appeal, given the Forest Service's recent history of accommodating ski resorts.
"I'd be surprised if this doesn't end up in federal court," said Marv Hoyt of the Greater Yellowstone's Idaho Falls, Idaho, office.
The environmental groups, which include the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, accuse the Forest Service of facilitating Grand Targhee's desire to develop real estate. The resort operates under a Forest Service permit and master plan that allows expansion only as needed to meet increased skier demand.
"The Forest Service has disregarded about anything they've had to, to make this thing work," Hoyt told The Salt Lake Tribune.
Reese said his office has followed the book on the land exchange and he said it will be in the best interest of the forest and the public.
The Forest Service says it has been trying for years to acquire Squirrel Meadows to reduce potential bear-human conflicts there if the area were to be developed. The deal with Grand Targhee offers the best hope for protecting the bear habitat, Reese said.
Development at Grand Targhee has been inhibited primarily because the resort lies on Forest Service land.
That situation would change with the land swap, said Mike Whitfield of Driggs, Idaho.
"This land swap is like throwing fuel on a fire," said Whitfield. He said real estate in Teton Valley, which stretches west toward Idaho Falls from Grand Targhee, is being developed at an uncontrolled rate.
"There's been no slowdown in growth here. People are buying property sight unseen. Part of that is speculation over what is happening at (Grand) Targhee," he said.
The population of Teton Valley, now at about 6,000, has doubled in the past decade and already is encroaching on prime winter habitat for elk, moose and deer, migratory habitat for waterfowl and nesting sites for the bald eagle, said Whitfield, a wildlife biologist.
Teton County, Idaho, officials, while not opposed to the land swap, are frustrated that they will receive little direct benefit from Grand Targhee's expansion but will be saddled with much of the burden.
The resort lies in Teton County, Wyo., so all of the tax revenue from its operations will flow to the Cowboy State.
"We have to deal with 90 percent of the resort's employees. We have to provide housing and emergency services, but we're not able to collect any taxes or fees that the resort pays into Teton County, Wyoming," said Teton County, Idaho, Commission Chairman Mark Trupp.
Grand Targhee General Manager Larry Williamson dismisses fears that the land swap will have any measurable effect on Teton Valley's growth.
"Growth in the valley has doubled in the past 10 years while (Grand) Targhee has not grown," Williamson said.
In their appeal of the land-exchange, valued at just over $3 million, environmentalists also plan to attack the appraisal process. They argue that the Squirrel Meadows land was overvalued while the Targhee land was undervalued.