After more than 21 years of negotiations, legislation and public debate, the $100 million sale of a pristine 640-acre tract of land next to Grand Teton National Park is final.
Gov. Mark Gordon announced Friday that he’s officially certifying the sale of the Kelly Parcel in Teton County to the national park.
The Kelly Parcel makes up 640 undeveloped acres of state-owned land outside Jackson. It had become a major political football in recent years between conservationists and those who didn’t want the land sold to the federal government.
“I’m excited about the win-win of continued public and wildlife access for this land that is sandwiched between the park and the national forest,” state Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, told Cowboy State Daily. “Having it be part of Grand Teton National Park is great for our shared national legacy, and I’m glad that it is getting finalized before the extremists in the new Legislature can take that away from us.”
Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and Secretary of State Chuck Gray had pushed for the sale to be delayed so that a land swap deal could be arranged for the Kelly Parcel with mineral opportunities in the Powder River Basin. Members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus had also criticized the governor for what they saw as his effort to add more land owned by the federal government.
“It is a shame that this priceless piece of Wyoming treasure has been handed over to the federal government, who already owns and mismanages half of our state land mass,” state Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, chairman emeritus of the Freedom Caucus, told Cowboy State Daily. “It was sold for a figure well below what could and should have been traded for to ensure long term funding of education in Wyoming.”
Why Now?
The major push to sell the state land is so that a much larger sum of money can be generated from it to support Wyoming’s schools than what it now produces in leasing revenue, which is less than $3,000 a year.
Although the Kelly Parcel sale was preliminarily completed with the issuance of the final BLM Resources Management Plan (RMP) for Rock Springs earlier this month, Gordon still had to ensure the conditions set by the Legislature regarding the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan that enable the sale of the Kelly Parcel have been met.
These conditions had to do with mineral production and land access in southwest Wyoming.
The land will be used in the same way it was managed by Wyoming with hunting and livestock grazing still allowed on the property.
On Friday, Gordon certified that the conditions established in the record of decision for the RMP does meet the requirements the Legislature dictated for the Kelly Parcel.
Under the sale agreement finalized by the State Board of Land Commissioners in November, the land will be sold to the Department of Interior for $100 million. Private philanthropy will contribute around $40 million of the money.
There was a sense of urgency among those supporting the sale due to the upcoming change in presidential administrations.
“We, as a state, should not be held captive to the whims of who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C.,” Bear said. “This sale does just that.”
What It Means
Despite the Kelly Parcel conditions being met, Gordon still criticized the final RMP in his Friday statement.
“I always expected to have to litigate the Biden administration’s parting shot at the good people of Wyoming and I have instructed the attorney general to pursue every legal remedy,” Gordon said. “In addition, I have been in contact with Wyoming’s congressional delegation and potential members of the incoming Trump administration to fix the mess an ideological Biden administration is leaving for southwestern Wyoming.”
The State Board of Land and Investments, which is made up by the same members as the state land board, also ruled in November that proceeds from the Kelly Parcel sale shall be used for the potential purchase of federal lands identified in the Powder River Basin for mineral production.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
