County eyes pure assets | Information

Commissioners are looking for solutions to the Teton River crowd and setting up a wildlife advisory body

Teton County has set up a wildlife advisory body to help achieve some of the goals of the county’s comprehensive plan and is working with stakeholders to find short and long-term solutions to the significant user impact on the Teton River.

During a meeting on February 8th, Commissioner Michael Whitfield, with 30 years of conservation experience, presented his vision for a committee made up of wildlife experts from government agencies, nonprofits and the community at large. The committee would review the goals of the comprehensive plan for wildlife and wildlife habitat conservation, and bring back recommendations and priorities that could be implemented by the county’s decision-makers.

The county’s Comprehensive Plan, approved in 2012, includes a list of goals related to natural resources and outdoor recreation. While some land use measures and regulations can be addressed through the ongoing Land Development Code update process, other proposals such as protective measures and habitat reduction include public and private partnerships.

Whitfield suggested bringing representatives from Idaho Fish & Game, the Forest Service, Friends of the Teton River, the Teton Regional Land Trust and other relevant groups into the discussion.

“The idea I have is to recruit people for this committee who are wildlife experts, not just lawyers. I want to get the best information possible, knowing that a lot has been added in the past few years, ”said Whitfield, referring to the advances in data collection during the migration.

Commissioner Bob Heneage asked for a clearer picture of the composition of the proposed committee. Whitfield said this week that he hopes to bring an update on the committee to the commissioners at their next meeting.

At the same time, the county commissioners and staff are grappling with short-term and long-term solutions to rapidly increasing pressure to recover on the Teton River.

Rob Marin, the county GIS manager who leads the effort, said that in recent years, more users on the river have led to complaints from fisheries guides, wildlife advocates and ranchers. Large flotillas of “alcohol cruisers” disrupt the fishing and frighten the wildlife, while loose dogs hunt cattle. Many stakeholders are also concerned about overcrowding or lack of etiquette for boat ramps at access points and about “crouching” or long-term camping at Rainey access.

“Everyone wants to regulate everyone else, but it is difficult to determine what the carrying capacity of a resource is without knowing the actual numbers and failures,” said Marin.

A graduate student at the University of Montana conducted a stakeholder assessment for Friends of the Teton River in 2018 and made recommendations on river recovery management, but did not provide specific user data.

While guides require a permit to travel the river with customers, boat rental companies currently have no restrictions. This came about when an interested party reached out to the county to start a local stand-up paddleboard rental company.

The river flows through private land, state land, and county land, and the access points are administered by the county and Idaho Fish & Game.

Since neither the county nor the state agency has the staff to police the river, Marin suggested that some kind of self-regulation might be required for commercial rentals. He’s met with most of the local outfits and said, “They all care about the resource and know that if it gets too out of hand, it’s not good for their business.”

Commissioners agreed that the county will likely not be ready until this summer, but is likely to require a comprehensive river management plan that would require significant data collection and input from the community.

“The public has to be a little patient,” said Marin. “We can’t follow a lot of rules and regulations and fix the problem overnight. We need a game plan that is open to the general public and also protects the resource. ”