Wyoming will sell a 1-square-mile (2.6-square-kilometer) parcel of pristine land bordering Grand Teton National Park to the U.S. government for $100 million after Gov. Mark Gordon signed off on a deal Friday that ends the state’s longstanding threats to unload it to a developer.
Under the agreement the federal government will pay the appraised value of $62.5 million for the property, while privately raised funds will supply the rest.
Carpeted by a mix of trees, shrubs and sagebrush, the rolling land has a commanding view of the iconic Teton Range and is prime habitat for animals including elk, moose and grizzly bears.
Gordon, a Republican, announced in a statement that he was approving the deal to add the land to the national park after his office ensured that a U.S. Bureau of Land Management plan for managing a vast area of southwestern Wyoming doesn’t carry too many restrictions on development including oil and gas drilling — a stipulation made by the state Legislature last winter.
Even so, Gordon criticized the BLM’s overall plan for the arid, minerals-rich area 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Grand Teton as “the Biden administration’s parting shot” at the state.
“I have been in contact with Wyoming’s congressional delegation and potential members of the incoming Trump Administration to fix the mess an ideological Biden administration is leaving for southwestern Wyoming,” Gordon said in the statement.
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