Wyoming's Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Whatever makes the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem so special, people with their trappings make it less so. At best, people can minimize their impact. Widely separated populations of a thousand are one thing, but Jackson’s 5,000 citizens are a load. Perhaps that’s one reason why there's an undertone of discontent in Jackson. It's an unnatural island of people in a sea of mountains, trees and critters.

Unlike most tourist meccas, Jackson has been good to Mother Nature.

Yet, compared to most tourist meccas, Jackson and Teton County have done very well by Mother Nature. The powerful Teton County Comprehensive Land Use Plan restrains haphazard development. To a person, the locals recognize the value of the natural resource, and most would term themselves environmentalists.

However, enlightened and noble sentiments don't change the fact that it doesn't take many modern human beings to drastically alter an ecosystem. The Yellowstone has already seen tampering. Wolves and mountain lions were eliminated from the region by 1930 in hopes of increasing deer and elk populations. The future of the grizzly bear outside the park is precarious. Logging and mineral development in the forests continue. Management gradually becomes more prudent, but powerful interests support continued exploitation.

There are rational incentives and disincentives to making a move to northwest Wyoming. You can count them, write them down in a list. There's also responsibility to consider. Northwest Wyoming's charm is its wildness, a national treasure that too many inhabitants could only dilute.

Adapting without compromise.

At first glance into Teton Valley, it's easy to think, "This place has seen better times." There doesn't appear to be much going on. For entertainment, there's one movie screen, the Spud Drive-In, and it's closed half the year. Looking closer though, it's apparent that, despite recent lean times, there's no fear in the air. Kids wobble their bikes down the main highway without a care. Mention drugs, and people think of sulfa. If Teton Valley wants to lay a claim to fame, it was the Pea Capital of the World—80 years ago.

For the past 15 years, Teton Valley has attracted more than its share of persons looking for rural lifestyles. And not only because it's low key. It's privy to the world-famous Teton skyline and all the other natural attributes of Jackson Hole (which sits about 30 miles on the other side of the range) but to none of the hustle-bustle.

Paul and Mary Lou Hansen

Ignoring every mother's advice, Paul Hansen picked up a hitchhiker. The rider passed on a rumor about cheap land "over the hill," local vernacular for Teton Valley. Just for the heck of it, Paul and his new bride, Mary Lou, drove over Teton Pass to take a look. The land was five miles from the nearest paved road. Tillable Idaho soil under a huge sky, a former farm subdivided into 10-acre lots.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print