JH Underground – news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The Trust for Public Land announced today it has raised the $8.75 million needed to buy drilling leases and protect 58,000 acres of the Wyoming Range south of Jackson from oil and gas development.

The deal ensures that fracking will not occur in some of the headwaters of the Hoback River, and up to 136 wells will not be drilled in a pristine area prized for hunting, fishing, hiking and horseback riding.

The trust had been racing a Dec. 31 deadline to raise the necessary funding, which will be paid to Plains Exploration and Production of Houston, the company that owned the drilling rights.

“I can’t think of a better way to start off the New Year. This solution honors the wishes of the people of Wyoming and protects a vital corner of Greater Yellowstone for generations to come,” said Will Rogers, TPL president and CEO.

The largest donation came from Hansjörg Wyss, a Wilson homeowner who contributed $4.25 million through his charitable foundation. Joe Ricketts, the TD Ameritrade founder and part owner of the Chicago Cubs who owns a home near Bondurant, gave $1.75 million, including an eleventh-hour gift of $750,000 that pushed the campaign across the finish line, the trust said in a release.

Posted under Environment, Politics, Sports

Tags: conservation, fishing, hunting, national forest, oil and gas, river running

With little more than two weeks left to complete a deal, the Trust for Public Land has raised $7.6 million of the $8.75 million it needs to retire drilling leases and protect the Wyoming Range south of Jackson from oil and gas development.

The trust must raise the remaining $1.15 million by the end of the year. In the last week, donors have given $1.7 million, including $200,000 from the Pinedale Anticline Mitigation Fund.

All those small donations must be making an impact. In the last two months, advocates have made the case on social media that even a $150 contribution will protect an acre of land.

To help reach the goal, The Deadlocks and Jalan Crossland will perform a benefit concert Dec. 21 at Center for the Arts. Tickets are $20 or $100 for VIP with food and cocktails. The Jackson-based website Clean Snipe is helping put on the show, along with a host of other local businesses.

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Posted under Environment, Music, Politics

Tags: conservation, national forest, oil and gas

A chapter in Jackson Hole media history has come to a close, as David Gonzales announced yesterday he will cease publishing The Snaz.

The popular website was Jackson Hole’s first mountain culture blog, established in 2006. Originally dedicated to Jackson Hole videos, the site evolved into a platform for news, discussion, fine art photography and conservation.

Gonzales said he is retiring the site to focus on TreeFight, the effort he founded in 2010 to protect whitebark pine forests from climate change.

“I had to consolidate my efforts,” he said. “TreeFight is more important in every way.”

Although there were several experimental websites in the early 2000s — jhlocal among them — The Snaz was the first Jackson Hole blog to achieve a wide audience. At the height of its popularity, the site drew close to 2,000 readers per day, Gonzales said.

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Posted under Environment, Media

Tags: climate change, conservation, national forest, nonprofits

The Jackson Town Council will hold a special meeting at 8 a.m. Tuesday to discuss a possible zip line on Snow King.

The meeting was announced this afternoon. As of 5 p.m., no agenda or documents were posted on the town website. The purpose is to discuss “expanded mountain operations” on Snow King, states a town release.

Town Administrator Bob McLaurin said the meeting will pertain to Snow King’s lease with the town for land at the bottom of the mountain. The resort is seeking to build a zip line that lands on town property near the base of the Cougar chairlift. Snow King reportedly leases this land from the town for $1 a year.

McLaurin said his understanding is that the meeting will be the “beginning of the discussion” about the zip line, which has been a topic of concern among some residents and neighbors.

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Posted under Environment, Politics, Ski Resorts, Sports, Town Government

Tags: national forest, snow king

As promised, here is the video from Wednesday’s League of Women Voters forum for Jackson Town Council candidates. Many thanks again to Danny Holland and Sam Petri for volunteering to record and stream the event.

Owing to my lack of skill at video editing and desire to get this up quickly, I have posted the entire forum, introductions and all. Some of you might care to understand the format, which allotted candidates only 45 seconds to respond to questions after the first person answered. Plus, there are well deserved mentions of the organizers, a shout-out to Sandy Shuptrine (sidelined by surgery) and a few funny moments, if you know the characters.

For those looking to get to the issues quickly, skip to these segments:

10:12 — entertaining intro by Jake Nichols of JH Weekly
10:40 — first question, about proposed Walgreen’s on Broadway, whether candidates would support and/or approve it
16:40 — workforce housing/density
22:00 — wildlife crossings
27:33 — proposed purchase of Forest Service property on North Cache
33:15 — Jim Genzer’s lawsuit against the town over comprehensive plan
39:42 — transportation planning
45:00 — affordable housing (subject of today’s Daily story)
50:30 — role of government/ban on idling or plastic bags
55:45 — town budget
1:02:00 — which candidate would you vote for besides yourself
1:07:30 — closing statements

There are some stark differences among the candidates. Judge for yourselves.

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Posted under Economy, Environment, Politics, Town Government

Tags: campaign 2012, conservation, development, Media, national forest, wildlife