JACKSON, Wyo. — During 2025, the Jackson Hole Land Trust (JHLT) made big strides in conservation across Northwest Wyoming, marking new achievements in land protection, Tribal-led buffalo restoration and community stewardship.
Connected Landscapes, Lasting Impacts
In Teton County, community conservation efforts flourished this year across R Park and the Greenspace on the Block. At R Park, volunteers removed more than 300 pounds of noxious, invasive weeds during multiple community workdays, including two Habitat Heroes events. JHLT staff and volunteers also added 15 mature cottonwoods, 400 cottonwood saplings, 400 native plant plugs, and sowed 10 pounds of native wildflower seed. JHLT began replacing aging infrastructure at the park, and users are now able to enjoy new bridges, walkways, and a safer walking ramp up to the Snake River levee. At the Greenspace on the Block, JHLT’s Yoga on the Block 2025 series, supported by the Sipprelle Charitable Corporation, offered 24 free classes and grew participation to more than 140 community members.
“We are seeing increased visitation at our community conservation spaces every year,” said JHLT Vice President Liz Long. “The R Park and the Greenspace on the Block have become essential hubs for this community. Both are spaces where local families can safely gather to reconnect with each other and with nature. These parks are also filling a critical need in the local nonprofit space, allowing organizations to host free programming in the heart of our valley.”
JHLT’s Park County Open Lands program closed two new donated conservation easements in 2025, protecting 308 acres of agricultural properties that support working lands, open space, and wildlife habitat. These projects permanently conserved 140 acres of Wyoming Game and Fish Department designated crucial range, including more than 140 acres of mule deer winter and parturition habitat, strengthening habitat connectivity in a rapidly changing region. The JHLT has lined up 30 conservation easement projects totaling more than 19,000 acres that it will work to close in the coming years.
In its Wind River Program, the JHLT continued its partnership with the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (WRTBI) to support the return of buffalo to their ancestral range. Over three years, the JHLT partnered with WRTBI to help raise $3.9 million to secure 713 acres of riparian and buffalo habitat along the Wind River. This acquisition now supports a herd of more than 300 buffalo and reconnects traditional movement corridors spanning thousands of acres, advancing what could become the largest keystone species restoration effort in the United States.
“JHLT’s accomplishments this year were the product of long-standing partnerships with
landowners, nonprofit organizations, wildlife researchers, and the communities where we work,” says JHLT President Max Ludington. “Northwest Wyoming’s cultures and economies are defined by the landscape that surrounds us, and we continue to make major inroads permanently protecting this incredible part of the world.”
