• Wyoming’s 640-acre tract in the heart of Jackson Hole is under contract, selling to the federal government for $100 million. Its value for wildlife and open views is incalculable.

By Mike Koshmrl, WyoFile.com

Chirps, squawks and grunts from a distant phalanx of elk reverberated under the dimming skies of a recent Friday night at the Kelly Parcel. The square-mile tract of land is on a path to being perpetually preserved through inclusion into Grand Teton National Park.

The herd’s presence immediately north of the state-owned land, which is under contract for a $100 million sale, was no surprise. 

A year ago, when Wyoming entertained auctioning the section of school trust land, wildlife managers performed an inventory of the ecological assets in the state’s possession on the 640 acres hugged between Teton Park, the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the National Elk Refuge.

When the snow flies, the Jackson Elk Herd relies on the parcel classified as “crucial winter range.” The ungulates also pass through it on their twice-annual migrations.

“Pulses of elk, totaling 1,000 or more, as well as antelope and deer also traverse the area each spring and fall,” Wyoming Game and Fish Department habitat protection biologists Will Schultz and Ross Crandall wrote in a review letter.

The westernmost extent of the famous federally recognized Path of the Pronghorn plows right through the parcel. 

Wyoming wildlife managers’ two-page missive was straight to the point, dubbing the Kelly Parcel “important wildlife habitat” — and a place where human hunters pursue bison, elk and ruffed grouse.

The Kelly Parcel occupies a swath of eastern Jackson Hole where the landscape transitions, dropping out of the foothills from a high point of 7,300 feet to the sagebrush steppe and historic rangeland that sweeps across the valley floor. Aspen groves and strings of conifers break up the sloping section into a mosaic that’s an abode for animals large and small.

The entire parcel is classified as a protected “core area” for Jackson Hole’s diminutive, isolated population of sage grouse. It’s also used by 87 Wyoming species of greatest conservation need, including moose, bald eagle, bighorn sheep, Brewer’s sparrow and American kestrel. Western toads and Columbia spotted frogs can also be seen. 

Apart from the elk, some ravens and songbirds, other noticeable critters were sparse on a recent Friday night. But the trails spelled out in the snow told the tale of other wild passersby, a mountain lion and mule deer among them.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.