Wyoming should sell the 640-acre wildlife-rich and scenic Kelly school trust parcel to Grand Teton National Park for $100 million, the Office of State Lands and Investments recommended Friday.
The recommendation appears to clear the way for the State Board of Land Commissioners to vote on a sales agreement at a special board meeting Thursday. Approval would prevent development feared by conservationists and turn the land over to the federal government “at Grand Teton National Park.”
The recommendation is unsigned; Jason Crowder is the acting director, having replaced Jenifer Scoggin in September.
Wyoming legislators and others have resisted an outright sale, seeking to link transfer of the scenic and wildlife-rich property to the relaxation of proposed restrictions on public land in southwest Wyoming. At issue was a plan to curtail travel and oil, gas and mineral leasing on federal Bureau of Land Management property near Rock Springs.
“Disposing of the Kelly Parcel looks to provide comparatively greater and more consistent returns than what is realized by continuing to hold the parcel and allow it to appreciate in value.”
Office of State Lands and Investments
The BLM issued the final plan in August, and it could be approved soon.
The recommendation appears to recognize that the BLM will not restrict rights of way and mineral leasing for the 3.6 million acres of public land as it first proposed. House Enrolled Act No. 50, a budget bill, made the sale to Grand Teton contingent on the federal agency not adopting restrictions it had contemplated.
Lawmakers set the $100 million price in legislation that enables the sale without an auction.
The parcel has been appraised at $62 million. Conservationists could contribute to the effort to buy the state property located just inside the national park boundary.
The lands office said it’s time to sell.
Property appreciation in the uber-expensive Jackson Hole real estate market “has been shown to be volatile and highly subjective to fluctuating economic conditions,” the recommendation asserts.
“Disposing of the Kelly Parcel looks to provide comparatively greater and more consistent returns than what is realized by continuing to hold the parcel and allow it to appreciate in value,” the office wrote.
Sale of the Kelly Parcel “appears to substantially increase funds available for distribution to the State’s school districts when compared to revenues currently realized by existing and potential uses,” according to the recommendation.
That would fulfill the state’s obligations to schools and other institutions that trust lands are constitutionally required to support.
“[D]isposal of the Kelly Parcel appears to reasonably meet the beneficiaries’ short and long-term needs,” the recommendation states.
The State Board of Land Commissioners’ meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. Thursday in Cheyenne and is available through the OSLI’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@wy_osli
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