JACKSON, Wyo. — A panel of outdoor leaders came together on Sunday, Sept. 15 in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) to discuss the delicate balance between growing tourism and the protection of the region’s natural ecosystem.
The event was held on the grassy lawn of White Grass Dude Ranch, a park site which was maintained to train National Park Service employees and volunteers in historic preservation. During the event, an audience of outdoor retailers and journalists were asked to consider, “What does sustainable and regenerative tourism mean?”
Local writer Danielle Shapiro led the discussion about what it means to be a responsible steward when recreating in Jackson Hole. Panelists included Crista Valentino, Executive Director of the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board (TTB); Jeremy Barnum, GTNP Chief of Staff; Scott Kosiba, Friends of Bridger-Teton Executive Director; Taylor Phillips, Owner of Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures and Founder of WYldlife for Tomorrow; and Pitt Grewe, AllTrails Head of Public Lands Partnership.
According to the TTB, the valley began to experience the negative impacts of tourism around 2020.
“We can’t tell people not to come because it’s their public lands, but we can tell people how to take care of it,” Valentino said.
She stressed that people visiting and experiencing the region’s natural environment can learn about its need for protection. She added that educating visitors in regenerative or sustainable tourism is not an overnight process and it could take generations to create changes in habits.
According to Barnum, there’s been increased visitation in GTNP over the past three years, and approximately 95% of the park’s visitors reside outside of Teton County.
“In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, we have to look at visitor use and management as part of a long term planning process not just quick fixes,” Barnum said.
In the face of increased demand, Barnum said that GTNP began a public assessment study four years ago to help create a visitation management framework. Management projects include the restoration of wetlands, restoring sage brush ecosystems near Mormon Row and the elimination of roadside parking at String Lake.
Kosiba has seen increased visitor impacts on Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) firsthand.
“More and more people want to be outdoors on public lands and those people don’t have the experience for how to recreate in these areas,” Kosiba said. “People leave trash out in grizzly country, don’t put fires out and leave human waste in the middle of roads.”
Kosiba said that since 2021, volunteer ambassadors have put out over 600 fires that visitors have left burning on the Teton County region of BTNF.
“We need to have folks on the ground educating visitors,” Kosiba added. “It’s a challenge but one-on-one interaction is really important.”
Some of the projects that Friends of the Bridger-Teton has initiated include creating barriers so people can’t back up a motor home over 30-year-old sage brush, a two-year study reintroducing beavers in the riparian ecosystem and replanting thousands of white bark pine saplings.
As owner of Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures, Phillips said that educating businesses is key to improving tourism stewardship.
“I run a business that relies on tourism,” Phillips said. “We give tours to over 8,000 people annually. North America is a capitalist economy but there’s a lot at stake. The song bird population is crashing, mule deer are down from 500,000 to 300,000 animals and 7,500 wildlife collisions occur in Wyoming annually.”
His organization WYldlife for Tomorrow has distributed over 85 media kits to local businesses to educate consumers about the importance of preserving Wyoming’s ecosystems.
Grewe said that AllTrails saw the need for more people to act as stewards while recreating in the outdoors.
“What is the impact that businesses can make?” Grewe asked. “AllTrails has more than 65 million users worldwide, so we started the Public Lands Program with the goal of using this power to educate people.”
The Public Lands Program allows land managers and park officials to impart important updates to AllTrails users, including things like fire restrictions, bear-aware tips and gear recommendations.
“Habits will slowly change and my children will do things differently,” Grewe said. “It’s change through the generations. That’s progress.”
