JACKSON, Wyo. — The Jackson Hole Land Trust (JHLT), The Conservation Fund and their partners announced two new conservation easements, Chimney Draw Corridor I & II, protecting 256.5 acres along the foothills of the Snake River Range near Munger Mountain.
Chimney Draw Corridor is located within the area designated by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) as a crucial habitat for elk and moose. The parcels provide a migration corridor and calving area used by hundreds of elk to move seasonally between the Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) and winter range on the WGFD South Park Wildlife Habitat Management Area along the Snake River.
“These easements expand the mosaic of conserved public and private lands along the base of Munger Mountain that support a significant migratory elk herd,” JHLT President Max Ludington said via press release. “The Snake River Ranch’s commitment to stewarding these lands through responsible ranching has long supported these critical habitats, and this easement ensures that their conservation legacy will be carried on for generations to come.”
According to JHLT, both easements are parts of the Snake River Ranch, consisting of forest stands, wet meadows and summer and winter habitat for 47 animals listed by Wyoming as “Wyoming Species in Greatest Need of Conservation,” including the great gray owl, grizzly bears, gray wolves, bald eagles, hawks, osprey and upland birds. This open space also supports continued grazing and hay production, preserving agricultural lands contiguous to an existing conservation easement and USDA Forest Service land.
Snake River Ranch has managed their ranch lands on and around Munger Mountain for approximately 80 years.
“Now there is nearly a completely protected corridor from the east side of the valley to the west side of the valley with the feed grounds at the center,” Turner Resor of the Snake River Ranch families said in a statement.
The Conservation Fund led the effort to secure federal funding from the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program, funded through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in coordination with the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments, Forestry Division.
This Forest Legacy Program-funded conservation land is protected from current and future development, preserved for perpetuity. The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission will hold the conservation easements.
“The conservation of these amazing properties, along with other easements in the area, will ensure wildlife can migrate and have critical habitat for generations to come,” WGFD Lands Branch Chief Roy Weber said in a statement.
