WILSON, Wyo. — Teton County officially received the lease for the Munger Mountain State Trust Land Parcel, allowing the county and its partners to begin implementing recreational and habitat enhancements.
The lease was approved by the Wyoming State Land Board back in August 2024, but due to personnel turnover at the Office of State Lands, the lease was not provided until this month; the Teton County Board of County Commissioners approved the Special Use lease during their June 3 meeting, and has already paid the first year of payments, totaling $75,000 annually.
The 35-year lease allows Teton County to use the 640-acre, one square mile parcel, for recreational activities and habitat enhancement. Teton County Parks and Recreation Department is taking the lead management role for the parcel, with support from Friends of Pathways, Jackson Hole Land Trust and Friends of Munger Mountain.
According to the County, Parks and Rec is working on a weed management plan to be conducted this summer. Once the weeds are controlled on the state parcel, Friends of Pathways will work to improve trail systems.
Katherine Dawson, executive director of Friends of Pathways, told Buckrail that the nonprofit is working on several bridge and trail improvements on the existing Munger National Forest land this summer, and expects weed management to take some time.
“As much as we would like to get going really fast, we have to get the weeds down,” Dawson said, explaining that the land was previously used for grazing activities. Eventually, Munger’s national forest trail system will link to the state parcel.
In 2020, the Wyoming Legislature passed HB162, requiring the office of state lands and investment to solicit development opportunities on state lands, only in Teton County, to maximize value and increase revenue in the state. The bill prompted development plans on state land parcels in the county.
The Montana-based glamping company, Under Canvas, proposed the idea of building 90 seasonal tents on 30 to 40 acres of the Munger parcel. The plan was met with pushback from neighbors, which ultimately led to the creation of Friends of Munger Mountain, a coalition of stakeholders who worked to preserve recreational use and critical habitat. The parcels are exempted from local zoning regulations, raising development concerns from local community members.
The state did provide a temporary lease to another glamping operation Tammah, owned and operated Basecamp Hospitality, on the state land adjacent to Teton Village. The County and community advocates made legal challenges to the project but the last challenge to the development was removed this month.
The Kelly Parcel, a key migration corridor for pronghorn, elk and mule deer, connecting national park land with the Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee national forests, including the Upper Green River Valley and the Wind River, Gros Ventre and Wyoming Range mountains, was also targeted for public sale. Thousands of Wyomingites wrote letters and voiced their opposition to an auction, with the hopes that the land would be sold directly to GTNP. The parcel was ultimately transferred to the National Park Service for $100 million.
According to the Munger Mountain parcel proposal, “the proposed trail plan would integrate with the U.S. Forest Service trail system, improve, rehabilitate or construct 10 miles of trails, construct five trail bridges and provide expanded parking areas for recreationists, including hikers, bikers, hunters and equestrians.”
Valid through 2059, the lease payment totals $75,000 annually, more than $2.6 million over three and a half decades; in 2022, Teton County residents voted in favor of an $8 million SPET measure to help fund wildlife habitat and public access to open space; Friends of Munger Mountain submitted the SPET application.
While the state property does not allow motorized use right now, the national forest trail system allows for dirtbikes July 1 through Sept. 9.
Dawson pointed out that Munger is one of the few places allowing mixed use of , e-bikes, dirt bikes, horses, hiking and biking. “Not all of our systems welcome that many uses at once,” Dawson said.
“Without that SPET funding, this couldn’t have happened,” Dawson said.
