If some Wyoming lawmakers have their way, the price the Interior Department pays to buy a state-owned parcel inside Grand Teton National Park will involve more than just money.
The state House has approved an amendment to a biennial spending bill that would direct Republican Gov. Mark Gordon to reject the sale of the so-called Kelly Parcel inside the park to the federal government if the Bureau of Land Management approves a draft land-use plan that adds conservation designations across 1.6 million acres in southwest Wyoming.
approved an amendment
The amendment, which the Republican-led state House approved last week, has raised concerns among some supporters of the resource management plan update, and those who support adding the Kelly Parcel to Grand Teton National Park.
The amendment, which plays to the state’s conservative base that has long chafed at federal land management policies limiting coal mining and oil and gas development, would potentially complicate ongoing efforts by the National Park Service to purchase the 640-acre parcel and protect the pristine plot from private development.
