Three environmental groups have joined in criticizing the proposed trade of public land at the base of the Grand Targhee Ski Area for private land between Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Sierra Club, in a joint statement, urged the Targhee National Forest to halt work on a scheme to expand the ski area."This proposal has no redeeming qualities for Teton Valley," area resident Kathrine Dowson said. "It will lead to five-lane highways, skyrocketing property taxes and a possible jet port in the midst of the valley, not to mention the loss of agricultural lands and wildlife habitat."
The deal calls for 265 acres of U.S. Forest Service land at the ski area's base to be swapped for 330 acres of private land in an area known as Squirrel Meadows, four miles south of Yellowstone.
The exchange would allow the ski area to expand while giving the Targhee National Forest land it has tried to obtain for 20 years as critical grizzly bear habitat.
But the three conservation groups, joining up with Citizens for Teton Valley, said the exchange is similar to one proposed and killed two years ago.
"We were opposed to the trade then and we are opposed to it now," said Franz Camenzind, executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. "Nothing has changed. This push to privatize land and create a private commercial center so close to Grand Teton Park and the Jedediah Wilderness area is simply inappropriate."
Marv Hoyt, an Idaho representative for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said a 54 percent population increase in the Teton Valley since 1990 has already left the area in turmoil.
"Facilitating a major expansion of Grand Targhee Resort would only make the community's challenges worse," he said.
The three agreed that the Forest Service needs to obtain Squirrel Meadows, but it does not have to trade public land to do so.
Hoyt suggested the Forest Service use money from the sale of cabin sites it owns to purchase the land outright.
"Sacrificing one part of the ecosystem to protect another is simply ill-conceived and is not a solution," said Page McNeill of the Sierra Club. "The Targhee National Forest has had decades to acquire and protect Squirrel Meadows yet has failed to do so."