JACKSON HOLE, WYO – Can’t we all just get along? Not if we’re talking about public lands we can’t.
The much-maligned WPLI (Wyoming Public Lands Initiative) spent the past two years haggling out direction for the state’s numerous Wilderness Areas. In the end, the statewide, county-based planning effort that was billed as a collaborative process turned out to be too collaborative.
No one could agree on anything.
The idea was localized stakeholder groups throughout the state report their recommendations to the Wyoming County Commissioners Association (WCCA), who would in turn decide the future of some 45 designated Wilderness Areas in Wyoming. Which ones would remain protected? Which ones would be opened for recreational use like heli-skiing and ATV riding? Where would grazing and equestrian use be allowed? And what areas could potentially be suited to logging or mineral extraction?
But interest groups fought more than they compromised. Some quit the process or refused to join. Others splintered off and formed their own groups and recommendations.
Locally, Lincoln and Sweetwater counties refused to even join the process. Sublette tried but eventually dissolved its group after it fell apart.
Further muddying the waters was Rep. Liz Cheney’s flip-flop on the issue—initially supporting the WPLI when running for office but introducing legislation in early 2018 that circumvented the process.
Maybe the whole idea was ill-conceived to begin with. The WPLI was modeled after the Utah Public Lands Initiative—a group that eventually disbanded after coming under repeated scrutiny.
The wheels eventually came completely off. The 18-person committee charged with providing recommendations for the two Wilderness Areas that fall partially in Teton County admitted the process had become borderline dysfunctional and could not come to any consensus.
The result of more than two dozen meetings since 2015 was three diverse alternatives plopped in the laps of County Commissioners yesterday. Staff recommended electeds scrap the whole thing and not forward any recommendation to the WCCA. While everyone waited for the Board of County Commissioners to simply blow up the committee and admit failure, they wouldn’t. Commissioners Tuesday asked the stakeholder group to give it one more try.
It’s back to the drawing board.
