Help save one quarter mile in Grand Teton National Park/Ryan Sheets

It took one man—John D. Rockefeller, Jr.—working surreptitiously to acquire much of the acreage that today is at the heart of Grand Teton National Park. Now national park advocates are following in his footsteps, donating millions of dollars to help protect one square mile in the park from possible development.

Whereas Mr. Rockefeller used his Snake River Land Company as a front to buy out private landowners at the foot of the Tetons, the Grand Teton National Park Foundation and the National Park Foundation have publicly mounted the current drive. Together their joint campaign is closing in on the $46 million needed by December 31, 2016, to purchase the 640 acres on Antelope Flats, a purchase that would permanently preserve the park’s remaining highest-value wildlife and scenic land.

So important is it to transfer this land to the national park that the Interior Department and the National Park Service have made its acquisition their top land protection priority. Spend time here and that priority becomes more obvious than simply the gorgeous view of the Tetons. The acreage lies along a primary migration route for not just pronghorn, but also bison and elk. It also contains nesting and brood-rearing habitat for sage grouse and is frequented by deer, moose, badgers, coyotes, fox, bears, wolves, and dozens of bird species.

To the state of Wyoming, which owns the parcel, the value of this Antelope Flats parcel lies in maximizing a financial return from its sale, as the land currently is held in a trust that by state law must generate revenue for public education. Purchasing the Antelope Flats land from Wyoming would not only be a tremendous victory for Grand Teton National Park, but also for the state. The money generated from the sale will help Wyoming meet its fiduciary mandate and trust obligations, generating income for public schools at a time when decreasing energy revenues have hurt the state’s economy.

Grand Teton National Park Foundation and the Washington, D.C.-based National Park Foundation are in the midst of a $23 million private fundraising campaign to help the National Park Service purchase the Antelope Flats parcel. The NPS is securing the other half of the required funds, $23 million, from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. For up-to-date news on fundraising progress or to join this critical effort visit www.gtnpf.org.