This Tiny Parcel of Paradise Could Be Devoured

In 1950, when Grand Teton National Park was expanded eastward across Jackson Hole, Wyo., its new boundaries nearly subsumed a square mile of state land. Like the national park, forest and elk reserve surrounding it, this is no ordinary piece of ground.

Called the Kelly Parcel for its proximity to the village of Kelly, where I’ve lived for 37 years, this 7,000-foot-high stretch of rolling hills, sagebrush meadows and aspen groves has magnificent views of the Teton Range and provides important habitat for elk, moose, pronghorn antelope, bison, mule deer and bighorn sheep. The annual migration of up to 150 miles by pronghorn from Grand Teton National Park to the Green River Basin — one of the longest mammalian migrations in the contiguous United States — goes through the Kelly Parcel. So does a long mule deer migration.

This square mile, 14 miles northeast of Jackson, is also home to grizzly and black bears, wolves, mountain lions, ruffed and sage grouse, raptors and Neotropical birds. Eighty-seven species that Wyoming has labeled “of greatest conservation need” count that land as habitat. In short, the Kelly Parcel is an elemental part of the surrounding Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which is facing ever increasing threats from development, recreation and a warming climate.

This land should be protected. Yet it could soon be auctioned to the highest bidder. A billionaire wanting a baronial mansion, or a conglomerate of real estate developers intent on subdividing this sublime, 640-acre piece of ground into 35-acre trophy home sites, could outbid the park. This would destroy the parcel’s natural integrity, threaten an important wildlife migration corridor, force out many of the other species that use this landscape and end public access.

How we got to this point began with noble intentions. After the Revolutionary War, America was cash-poor and land-rich. To generate revenue, the new nation began to sell land in its Western territories to settlers. These lands were mapped into a checkerboard grid, and one centrally located section — one square mile — in each surveyed township was reserved to support public schools, in keeping with the founding fathers’ belief that education was a precursor to liberty. Today, nearly two dozen states have 45 million acres of these state trust lands.