Parcel of Grand Teton Park for sale?

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

By Business Report staff

MOOSE, Wyo. — The two-square-mile area in Grand Teton National Park would sell for a top price, but it only brings in $3,000 a year from its lease for cattle grazing for the State of Wyoming.

In an effort to force the U.S. Department of Interior to trade minerals, mineral royalties or land for the 1,366 acres in the national park, Gov. Dave Freudenthal has threatened to sell the land for $125 million.

If sold at that price and invested at 3 percent, the land could net $3.75 million a year.

For nearly a decade, the state has tried to work out a trade with the federal government. But Freudenthal said he is running out of patience and recently sent an ultimatum to Mary Gibson Scott, park superintendent.

Wyoming kept its "school sections," which were set up when the federal government allocated land in new Western states to be logged, mined or leased to raise money for public education. Wyoming received its land at statehood in 1890 and kept the school sections when Teton National Park was established in 1950.

Both sides are working to get updated appraisal for the land, which Wyoming officials believe is worth $100 million to $125 million.

The state constitution mandates that elected officials must manage state lands for maximum profit — a job that Freudenthal has taken seriously. However, the idea of selling national park land is receiving a lot of dissent across the nation through blogs, website comments and more.

Previous talks to trade the Grand Teton land for 800,000 acres of U.S. Bureau of Land Management land went nowhere with Wyoming officials saying the land was undesirable. A plan to trade coal rights bogged down when Wyoming didn't agree to a federal plan for valuing the reserves.

This isn't the first time the governor has clashed with the Interior Department. In the past, he's challenged the federal government over snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park and endangered species.

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