For Sale: Part of Grand Teton National Park. Majestic views of the Teton Range. Prime location for luxury resort, home development. Pristine habitat for moose, elk, wolves, grizzlies.
Price: US$125 million. Call: Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal.
Wyoming is trying to force the US Department of the Interior to trade land, minerals or mineral royalties for 552 hectares it owns within the majestic park. If the foot-dragging feds don’t agree to a deal — soon — Freudenthal threatens to put a For Sale sign on the property.
Wyoming has owned the land since statehood in 1890, when the federal government set aside land in new Western states to be mined, logged or leased to raise money for public education. Wyoming kept its so-called “school sections” after Grand Teton National Park was established in 1950.
The state has tried for a decade to negotiate some kind of trade.
Saying that his patience is running out, Freudenthal, a Democrat, sent an ultimatum recently to park superintendent Mary Gibson Scott.
“I think he wants to pound the [for sale] sign in himself,” said Ed Grant, director of the Office of State Lands and Investments.
Wyoming gets just US$3,000 a year from the land by leasing it for cattle grazing. Sold with the proceeds invested at 3 percent, the land easily could bring in US$3.75 million a year.
Wyoming’s Constitution requires state officials to manage state lands for maximum profit. Their oaths of office require them to act.
“If it’s to recreate on, or if it’s a new ski lodge, highest and best use,” said Susan Child, deputy director of the state lands office. “It’s obviously not grazing.”
Even in pro-development Wyoming, however, selling off land in a national park isn’t a popular idea. Some are protesting already.
However, Freudenthal, who has a long history of run-ins with the Interior Department over endangered species and snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, isn’t stepping on any toes he hasn’t smashed already. What’s more, he’s wrapping up his second term and will leave office next year. He’s all but enshrined as one of the most popular governors in Wyoming history.
“We’re going to continue to push on it,” Freudenthal said. “Somehow we’ve got to get some attention.”
He certainly grabbed the park’s.
“These are wildlife-rich habitats completely surrounded by pristine park land,” park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs said. “For obvious reasons, Grand Teton National Park would be very, very concerned and disappointed if these lands were sold for development.”
A deal wouldn’t be unprecedented: Utah in 1999 worked out an elaborate swap involving nearly 1,550km² of state land within several national parks, monuments and recreation areas. The state got US$50 million plus 620km² of federal land in return.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS