BTNF employees makes pitch to stay in Jackson

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

By Jake Nichols

It took an act of Congress. The Forest Service Facilities Realignment and Enhancement Act (FSFREA) signed by President Bush in 2005 gave the Department of Agriculture the authority to auction off a portion of the land that currently houses the Bridger-Teton Forest supervisor’s offices and Jackson district offices. Keith Simila called it “a once in a generation opportunity.” Simila is the Director of Engineering for the Forest Service’s Intermountain Region and, together with Deputy Regional Director Cathy Beaty, the duo from Ogden, Utah, is judge and jury for anxious local federal employees who wonder if and when they should cancel their cable and forward their mail to Alpine.

Beaty has already sent a proposal to Congress stating the USDA’s desire to sell off at least seven of the 15 acres at North Cache in order to generate revenue to recondition or rebuild outbuildings for the Bridger-Teton district offices. Whether the supervisor’s offices would remain in Jackson appears to be the sticking point.

The action solicited a scolding from the Wyoming delegation of Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, who said they were concerned to learn that the petition was sent to Washington before any outreach process was completed. “Such an action could be interpreted as a decision having been made in the matter before all the facts are known,” stated their Nov. 29 letter to the Intermountain Region office in Utah.
The perceived urgency of the plan – it was first disclosed to B-T employees in late August when they were told a decision would be made by Oct. 1 – is due mainly to the expiration date of FSFREA. It is set to terminate in less than a year. During a meeting held in Jackson and made open to media at the last minute, agency heads pleaded their case in concert to Beaty, who said she was “here to listen.”

“The primary driver is need,” Simila began, referring to B-T’s dilapidated outbuildings.

“The money will go to replacing facilities. We may build offices or housing, depending on the market. Another driver is that [now-retired Regional Forester] Jack Troyer asked me to look into the high cost of housing in Jackson. That’s the big elephant in the room.”

The man who will make the call is Troyer’s replacement, Regional Forester Harv Forsgren. Ironically, Forsgren began his career as a forest service volunteer for the Bridger-Teton in 1975. A lot of things have changed in Jackson since then. And that’s apparently what has Regional so bothered.

“The price of housing in Jackson for new employees is so high they are choosing to live in Alpine and commute,” said Simila, reading from 2004 data his Ogden office had collected. “Over time – say, in 30 or 40 years – everyone will be commuting.”

Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott responded, “We all have housing issues.”

“Housing is a shared problem,” concurred GTNP deputy super Bob Vogel. “If district leaves, or SO [the Supervisor’s Office], we still have a housing issue. And Alpine, in the long run, may be in the same boat as we are now with housing.”

Beaty admitted there was no simple answer saying her office has looked into relocation to Alpine or Afton. She and Simila said it was their belief, backed up by bar graphs and other data, that newcomers to the Jackson job market were choosing to live mainly in Alpine.

“But our people are buying here, we can show you,” insisted BTNF Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton. “People have figured out how to make it here.”

Hamilton’s personnel files show that out of 49 permanent SO employees, 35 own single- family homes, six own their own trailers, and one owns a condominium. The rest rent. Only seven total employees commute, none from Alpine. The Jackson District of the BTNF employs 26 fulltime professionals, 19 of which own, while six rent. Eight of the 26 commute to work.

Mike Balboni, B-T’s deputy forest supervisor, insisted there wasn’t currently a problem with finding and retaining employees. Vogel reminded the Utah committee about affordable housing movements in Teton County and the significant headway they have made in recent years. “But is there enough of it?” responded Simila. “I read that 900 people are on the waiting list.”

“We will be analyzing things like housing assistance when we make the decision,” Beaty said, steering the discussion toward working relationships and interagency dynamics between stakeholders. “Our partnership with state and federal agencies is critical. But is face-to-face the only way to nurture these relationships?”

“Jackson is where it happens,” Scott said flatly. “Jackson is the epicenter of wildlife issues.”
Game & Fish district supervisor Bernie Holz agreed. He recently announced that his
agency would be adding a Jackson game warden after Holz found he was unable to cover this area from his office in Pinedale. “We think it would be a very big mistake not to have a Jackson presence,” he said. “We found that out.”

“The Jackson ranger district would remain here if we had to move SO,” Beaty said. “The typical district office has significant presence locally. I appreciate you want SO here, but how do you keep SO involved if they are not?”

“The face of the forest is SO,” said Scott, taking up B-T’s argument. “Where you put it sends a clear message as to where you place the energy.”

Beaty continued to hint at the idea of SO moving. “In other places there is no SO and they are fine. Pinedale for example,” she offered.

“People in Jackson tend to want to talk to the head guy; the guy in charge,” Holz pointed out. “That guy needs to be here in Jackson.”

Again, Simila pointed to forests where SO was detached from the busiest district within a particular forest management design. “In Sawtooth [National Forest], which has Sun Valley, a resort town like Jackson with high housing costs, they have their SO in Twin Falls and they do fine,” he said. “We have to rely on a district office to be the face of the forest in Sun Valley. We’ve made it work in other communities.
“It’s different here,” insisted Vogel. “I’ve only been here six months but I can tell you Jackson is complex and political.”

“Jackson is a magnet,” Scott added. “People love this area.”

Beaty paused and chose her words carefully. “And the people of Jackson are passionate, I can see that,” she said. “I love the passion in this room.”

A public hearing will be scheduled for late January. How much sway the average citizen might hold is questionable but the FSFREA does allow for an exemption to any land conveyances should the Secretary of Agriculture, Chuck Conner, determine that it is in the public’s interest to retain the land.
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