Stepping Up to Save Community Access to High School Butte

Jackson, Wyoming – The Jackson Hole Land Trust (JHLT) will lead an effort to purchase the 3.74-acre trailhead parcel at the base of High School Butte and provide for its long-term stewardship. The sale will ensure continued community access to open space while securing funds for the Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole’s (PCJH) employee housing project. The JHLT received $750,000 in Specific Purpose Excise Tax (SPET) funding from the Teton County Board of County Commissioners and has quietly raised additional funds toward the purchase, leaving a $130,000 funding gap to be closed through an accelerated fundraising campaign.

“The church’s trailhead parcel provides the easiest and safest way for the community to reach the public trails on High School Butte,” said Jackson Hole Land Trust Vice President Liz Long. “We’ve been in conversation with the church about protecting that access since we purchased the adjacent 18 acres back in 2020. When it became clear the church would need to sell the property to fund homes for its employees, they agreed to delay their listing to give us a little time to ramp up conversations with our partners and potential donors to determine whether we could purchase the parcel and conserve the access for good. Given where the church’s funding need stands, the allocation of SPET dollars is critical to our ability to complete the purchase.”

For more than 30 years, PCJH has kept the parcel at the bottom of High School Butte as open space for the community. Most identifiable with the trailhead, this property abuts the Teton County School District parcel with the familiar switchbacks that ascend the butte. For many locals, a hike up the butte is a regular fixture of daily life. In 2021, the JHLT surveyed community members about their use of High School Butte and found that nearly all use it for their health, whether a daily walk, a run, or time outside, and about three in four of those polled visit at least once a week. Two-thirds walk to High School Butte from the surrounding schools and neighborhoods.

“We believe this is a significant opportunity to create an important public space for Jackson Hole and preserve essential hiker access to the butte,” said Becky Brewer Kimmel, member of PCJH’s board of directors and co-chair of its capital campaign committee for Home-Sted, its employee housing community. “At the same time, the funds we receive will support another significant community benefit by helping the church build homes for its employees.”

When the real estate transaction is complete, the JHLT will transfer ownership to the Town of Jackson, retaining a conservation easement to ensure the continued low-impact use and minimize infrastructure to this community open space. This builds upon the JHLT’s investment in the area, including neighboring conservation easements that protect essential winter wildlife habitat and the 18 acres on the west side of High School Butte that the JHLT acquired in 2020 to protect important winter wildlife habitat and continued light-on-the-land community use in the summertime.

“High School Butte is an iconic recreational access point for Jackson, and I think many people assume that access is already protected,” said Teton County Commissioner Luther Propst. “Seeing a for-sale sign out there is a good reminder that it isn’t. Protecting open space, scenic values, and public access to places like the butte is exactly what voters intended when they funded the SPET, and this is a clear chance to put those dollars to work.”

On Monday, September 21, the Teton County Board of County Commissioners allocated $750,000 from the 2022 Teton County Land Conservation Opportunities SPET account to assist in the purchase of the High School Butte Trailhead Parcel. Now, the JHLT will aim to close out fundraising with a campaign, asking community members to step up to save access to High School Butte. Interested community members should contact Director of Advancement Jill Callahan at jill@jhlandtrust.org.