By Mike Koshmrl
After a tense three-hour meeting, the state of Wyoming’s top five elected officials narrowly moved forward with an agreement to sell a prized 640-acre tract known as the Kelly Parcel to the federal government for addition into Grand Teton National Park.
There’s no closing date, but the contract for the $100 million land sale states that the conveyance shall be completed “at the earliest possible date” — and there are indications it could be done within weeks and before the change of presidential administrations. The decision to move forward was made Thursday by the State Board of Land Commissioners: Gov. Mark Gordon, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, Treasurer Curt Meier, Auditor Kristi Racines and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder. Gordon, Meier and Racines voted in favor of the sale, with Degenfelder and Gray opposing it.
One of the last remaining major hurdles to completing the deal is Gordon’s approval of the record of decision for the Bureau of Land Management’s divisive Rock Springs Resource Management Plan — a condition that was added by the Wyoming Legislature, which authorized the sale in its budget bill during the body’s 2024 session.
Gordon’s approval of the decision for Kelly Parcel purposes does not prevent Wyoming from appealing the decision administratively, or later suing the BLM.
That record of decision, according to Meier, is expected by the end of November. Some $62.4 million — the land’s appraised value — has been secured by the U.S. Department of the Interior via the Land and Water Conservation Fund. But the balance, $37.6 million, has been pledged by the Grand Teton National Park Foundation.
Moving forward with the agreement gives fundraisers “maybe another three weeks” to wrangle the funds needed to close the deal, the treasurer said.
Meier lauded what the treasurer’s office could do with the $100 million, which the Office of State Lands and Investments expects will appreciate by $6.4 million annually.
“I believe that … we can take the $100 million and turn it into $1.6 billion,” Meier said. “That could be a perpetual, actually generational fund that would benefit the students and the education system of the state of Wyoming.”
The Kelly Parcel and 3.4 million other surface acres of school trust land in the Equality State are managed to maximize revenue in support of Wyoming’s K-12 schools.
Efforts to convey the Kelly Parcel have been ongoing for nearly 15 years, ever since Wyoming and the U.S. Department of Interior struck a 2010 agreement to transact three surface parcels and 40 acres of mineral rights that were orphaned as “inholdings” within the borders of Teton Park. Three of those deals got done. The scenic, undeveloped Kelly Parcel, which rises over the Gros Ventre River and also borders the Bridger-Teton National Forest, is the last state tract that remains.
Continued resistance
Degenfelder has opposed the sale, favoring a land exchange that would send 100,000-plus acres of developable federal Powder River Basin land to the state. She tried and failed to amend the sale agreement to include contingencies across the state before ultimately voting against finishing the deal.
“I’m sorry if I failed in my effort to get the best deal for Wyoming today,” the superintendent said, explaining her no vote. “It is not in any way, shape or form because I do not want to protect the Kelly Parcel.”
Earlier during the Thursday meeting, the same five statewide elected officials met as the State Loan and Investment Board — the body that OKs acquisitions of state lands, not sales. Independent of the Kelly Parcel sale, Gordon, Racines, Degenfelder, Gray and Meier agreed to move forward with negotiations to acquire up to $162 million worth of developable federal Powder River Basin land. The dollar figure is equal to the total proceeds the state will have received from all of its Teton Park inholdings, assuming the Kelly Parcel deal goes through.
An ad hoc task force led by Degenfelder, who has professional and family ties to the oil and gas industry, is identifying BLM-owned surface and minerals in the Powder River Basin for potential oil development. The region is one of Wyoming’s most prolific for oil and natural gas production. Yet, a federal plan to allow 5,000 new wells is in legal limbo.
The task force has consulted with longtime oil and gas geologist Jimmy Goolsby, who serves on the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The group has focused on potential acquisitions for oil-rich BLM properties in the southern portion of the basin, mostly in Converse County, Goolsby told WyoFile. Specifically, the group is identifying how the state might put together federal tracks large enough to accommodate horizontal drilling, which can reach up to two miles in any direction from a drilling location.
Alongside Degenfelder, Gray also opposed the sale. He’s often aligned with far-right members of the Wyoming Legislature who fought the sale authorization in the budget bill during the body’s 2024 session. Several of those lawmakers, who are positioned to wield more power come January, testified Thursday to the State Board of Land Commissioners.
“Definitely take into consideration this blockbuster complaint to the U.S. Supreme Court from Utah,” Sen. Bob Ide (R-Casper) testified. “Don’t get moving too fast on [the Kelly Parcel sale], because I think there’s a really good chance the Supreme Court might hear this.”
The litigation Ide referenced seeks to force the Bureau of Land Management to hand over ownership of its “unappropriated” lands to western states. Wyoming filed an amicus brief in support of the land seizure effort last month. Some 26 far-right members of the Legislature went either further, seeking “parks, monuments, wilderness” and other classes of federal land.
If the cohort succeeds in its quest to acquire all of Wyoming’s federal land, it’d be a “pretty big problem” to sell the Kelly Parcel and then “get it back,” Rep. Bill Allemand (R-Midwest) testified to land commissioners.
Rep. John Bear (R-Gilette), past chairman of the hard-line Wyoming Freedom Caucus, also opposed the deal. The conditions in the budget bill related to the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan “really have not been met,” he said.
Gordon and Racines disagreed with that assessment. The auditor likened where they’re at with the Kelly Parcel sale to entering into a contract to purchase a house, which comes with conditions. The governor’s approval of the Rock Springs RMP record of decision is a condition, she said, giving the state an out.
Finish line in sight
Most officials and members of the public who testified Thursday encouraged the state board to get the deal done.
“We’ve been working hard to raise $38 million to round up to the $100 million to purchase this parcel,” Grand Teton National Park Foundation President Leslie Mattson said. “If this transaction gets delayed I think we’re in real jeopardy of losing that funding, given tax year planning for many of our donors.”
Rob Wallace, an Interior Department appointee during the first Trump administration, also pushed for expediency. The $62 million that the Park Service devoted to the transaction competes with the needs of 422 other units in the National Park Service, he said.
“If we can’t close the deal quickly, these other greedy hands are going to pull that money away and take them to their own park,” Wallace told land commissioners.
Although Wyoming and Interior’s now-in-effect Kelly Parcel contract doesn’t specify an exact closing date, the deal is supposed to be completed “within 60 days,” Office of State Lands and Investments Acting Director Jason Crowder told the board. The timeline can be extended if both parties agree to it, he said.
Gordon issued a statement after the Thursday meeting, reiterating his support for completing the Kelly Parcel “pending sale.”
“This is an iconic parcel, and we have been given a unique opportunity for it to join Grand Teton National Park in perpetuity while protecting current hunting and grazing uses,” the governor said. “I thank Treasurer Meier and Auditor Racines for putting Wyoming’s future first.”
—WyoFile reporter Dustin Bleizeffer contributed to this story
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
