Bridger-Teton National Forest offices will remain in Jackson

Thursday, March 20, 2008

By Henry Sweets

Jackson Hole, Wyo -  At a press conference today Regional Forester Harv Forsgren announced that the new Bridger-Teton National Forest Supervisor's Offices will be built in Teton County.

Late last August, citing an out-of-date facility and rising costs of housing in Jackson, the Forest service proposed conveying the 15 acre Cache Street property and using the funds to build a new facility elsewhere.

After investigating the costs and benefits associated with moving the offices to Pinedale, Alpine, or Alpine junction, the Forest Service decided they must convey at least part of the Cache Street property but will build the new office somewhere in Jackson.

Forsgren cited two main reasons for this decision.

“In each of the communities that we considered, right now there is a dearth of affordable housing – housing that public servants can afford,” he said. “And that situation is likely to get worse in the future, and it’s that unlikely that, off into the future, employees will be able to find affordable housing in any of those communities.

"So it's significant that the City of Jackson and Teton County have tackled that issue, and provide some opportunities for us to participate in those programs  to provide a portion of the housing needs that we have … but beyond that we have more government owned housing here in Jackson … to use as a foundation to build and meet the housing needs of our employees.”

Forsgren also noted that “there really were no significant cost savings associated with construction of these facilities in those other communities” when the costs of purchasing land and transferring employees were taken into account. He also said the amenities provided by the town, and job opportunities for spouses of Forest Service employees, influenced his decision.

When asked if the response from community members also influenced his decision to keep the offices here in Jackson, Forsgren replied “Absolutely. Having public support for our management activities is essential to us being able to carry those out. When you have established strong relationships like we have here in Jackson, you want to honor those relationships.”

Forsgren added that this is not the end of the issue.

“Really it’s the beginning of a process now that we need to go through and make some difficult decisions, decisions that will be important to this community,”  he said. These questions include how much of the Cache property will be sold and where the different offices will be located in town.

An initial “proposed action” will be drafted over the next two months and released for formal “scoping and comment by the public,” which will run through the end of June, said Forsgren. Kniffy Hamilton, Forest Supervisor, said that 2010 is the projected year of completion for the project, but emphasized that the date is tentative.

Reader Comments
A victory for common sense and democracy. The people spoke and Harv had the common sense to do the right thing. Good work Harv! Look forward to working with you in the future. Citizen
Seems rational. Judd Grossman

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