Less than a decade ago, Jackson Hole was quiet and isolated. For revenue, its 6,000 residents depended on the trade of tourists and northwestern Wyoming ranchers.
Today, with a population closing in on 12,000, a rising cost of living, a severe housing shortage and the state's lowest unemployment rate, Teton County and Jackson are perhaps the most dramatic examples of the explosive growth seen in parts of Wyoming since its recovery from the mineral bust of the mid-1980s."We weren't even close to being ready," said Steve Thomas, chairman of the Teton County Commission and a former county business owner. "In 1986, we had . . . 38 building permits issued. In 1989, we had 180 and this year we have 200. It's been really frantic."
"I must honestly say I never foresaw it," said Bland Hoke, a county commissioner from 1983 to 1990 and a real-estate agent. "I think it surprised everybody."
Much of the growth since 1986 is due to aggressive marketing by the county and a growing desire among residents of metropolitan areas for a quieter lifestyle.
Many of the new arrivals - like those moving to other rural parts of Wyoming - are believed to be self-sufficient. Others are "telecommuters," who rely on computers, fax machines, telephone lines and the occasional trip by air to conduct business in distant metropolitan centers.
"There are a lot of people with outside businesses who live here," Thomas said. "It's really good for the economy, but it's wrecking the hell out of our environment here."
Armed with money from the sale of more expensive homes in urban areas, the immigrants were ready to pay, in Wyoming terms, big money for homes in Teton County.
Demand for homes and land pushed land values up, according to one estimate, from $15,000 per acre before 1986 to $25,000 an acre in 1993. Some land in particularly scenic areas is selling for nearly $50,000 an acre. The price increases created a severe shortage in affordable housing.
Job opportunities abound. In August, Teton County had an unemployment rate of 1 percent, the lowest in the state.
But most of the workers are in minimum-wage service industries and cannot afford to live in Jackson proper, which has a cost of living about 50 percent higher than the rest of Wyoming.
Hoke's advice for people who want to move to the area but cannot afford at least $150,000 for a home is simple.
"It's basically to head off toward Alpine or over toward Driggs (Idaho) and Victor (Idaho)."
The county was unable to hire a county planner until it recently boosted the position's salary from $45,000 to $61,000 a year.
County commissioners have been working since 1991 to develop a comprehensive development plan that will protect Jackson Hole's scenery and environment and provide affordable housing.
The county is also working with other entities to develop an affordable housing complex with home prices of $55,000 to $84,000.
And the town of Jackson, its infrastucture stressed by the doubling of its population, is trying to keep up. Among other things, Jackson is expanding its sewage plant, which is near to capacity.
"In a certain sense, we've got a boom economy," Thomas said. "You can go right down the list of economic indicators and it looks like the sky's the limit. But this rapid growth has come nowhere close to paying for itself."
And the rapid growth has forever changed the community's character, Thomas and Hoke said.
"I used to be able to drive down the road and wave and know everybody coming the other way," Hoke said. "I can't do that now."