JACKSON, Wyo. – A joint effort between volunteers and forest officials has given a new look to a Buffalo Valley camping area.
Sixteen volunteers turned out last week to help Friends of the Bridger-Teton and the Bridger-Teton National Forest designate, maintain and improve 23 free dispersed car camping sites along the Buffalo Valley Road.
Volunteers, along with five total Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) staff, got busy by signing, numbering, and improving 17 sites while also installing a major entryway kiosk with a map and visitor information about designated dispersed camping opportunities in the area.
At each dispersed campsite a new numbered sign was strategically installed to minimize resource impacts and provide critical visitor information. Fire rings were improved or established in appropriate locations, dozens of rogue fire rings were dismantled, trash was picked up, and invasive species were removed. Several additional barriers were installed to minimize motorized creep.
“This is exactly the kind of project that Friends of the Bridger-Teton is built to support—on-the-ground projects that protect the resource while improving the public land user experience,” said Sarah Walker, director of Friends of the Bridger-Teton. “The BTNF could easily have said, ‘We don’t have the funds to manage this,’ and continued to allow unregulated dispersed car camping literally anywhere within 300 feet of these popular destination camping roads. Instead they took a proactive approach and asked for help implementing improvements. And that’s what we’re here for.”
Friends of the Bridger-Teton completed similar work on Shadow Mountain last year.
