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To sell, or not to sell, the Kelly parcel

By
Billy Arnold with the Jackson Hole Daily, via the Wyoming News Exchange

JACKSON — To sell, or not to sell: That is the question facing Wyoming lawmakers this legislative season.
 
The Wyoming Legislature is beginning to outline different futures for the Kelly parcel, the last 640-acre parcel the state of Wyoming owns that’s surrounded on three sides by Grand Teton National Park.
 
On Wednesday, a group of Wyoming legislators unveiled the latest proposal, a bill intended to keep the parcel in state hands, unless an eager buyer was willing to fork over three-quarters of a billion dollars.
 
That’s 10 times more than the Kelly parcel’s appraised value of roughly $62 million.
 
“I don’t believe the state needs to sell the parcel right now. The status quo is just fine,” said Rep. Tom Walters, R-Casper, the sponsor of House Bill 121. “The state should sit on the asset and let it appreciate.”
 
House Bill 121 would allow three things to happen with the Kelly parcel: The state could enter into a $6 million annual conservation lease, which could be renewed for 10 years; the state could sell the parcel for $750 million; and the state could exchange the parcel for $1 billion in mineral interests elsewhere in the state, primarily coal in the Powder River Basin or trona in the Green River Basin.
 
The bill does not specify who could buy the parcel or take out a conservation lease, which would prevent development but still allow for hunting, grazing and public access.
 
The 10-year renewal limit on a possible lease, meanwhile, is intended to preserve the land while setting a time limit for swap negotiations.
The price tags are intended to deter a sale, Walters said, adding that he wants the parcel to stay undeveloped.
 
“But if we can get $750 million or more out of it, then you’re starting to talk,” Walters said.
 
The square-mile Kelly parcel is pristine wildlife habitat that boasts impressive views of the Tetons. Last fall, state land managers sparked statewide outcry when officials said that, without approval from the Legislature to sell the parcel to the National Park Service, they were considering auctioning the parcel on the open market.
 
In public comment, thousands of Wyomingites advocated keeping the parcel undeveloped, and most people who spoke up in public meetings advocated for selling to the Park Service.
 
In December, the state’s top five elected officials voted to table a decision on the auction for a year, in part to pressure the Wyoming Legislature to act, and in part to explore swapping the parcel for oil and gas development rights elsewhere in Wyoming — a motion U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., championed.
 
Now legislators are making their first moves, and there appear to be two trains of thought in Cheyenne: Sit on the Kelly parcel and let it appreciate, or sell directly to the Park Service.
 
Walters is leading the first camp as the sponsor of House Bill 121.
 
Whether the bill will gain traction is unclear. A measure that put a $320 million price tag on a sale to the Park Service failed in 2021.
 
Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, is leading the second camp.
 
In January, he successfully tacked a measure onto the Legislature’s budget bill that would authorize a $100 million sale of the undeveloped, square mile inholding to the National Park Service.
 
That’s $37.5 million more than the appraised value, the most the Park Service could pay for the parcel. The balance could be made up by philanthropy.
 
Selling to the Park Service would make money immediately for state schools and guarantee the parcel would remain protected in perpetuity for the American public and wildlife that use the area, proponents argue.
 
That approach builds on past sales of state parcels to the Park Service, like the 2016 sale of the 640-acre Antelope Flats parcel, which is near the Kelly parcel, and sold for $46 million. The Park Service paid $23 million, and the National Park Foundation and Grand Teton National Park Foundation raised the rest.
 
Gierau argued Walters’ approach would throw away similar progress that’s being made on the Kelly parcel.
 
We’ve got serious people, who have a serious offer,” Gierau said, adding that the Park Service and its philanthropic partners have already worked together to “come up with an offer that’s far greater than what the state says the value of that land is.”
 
The budget bill will be considered next week. In a budget session, Walters’ bill faces a stiffer barrier to introduction.
 
This story was published on February 8, 2024. 
 
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