Feds Buy Kelly Parcel, Conserving Last of Unprotected Land in GTNP

After more than a decade of bureaucratic hurdles, Wyoming’s 640-acre Kelly Parcel is officially part of Grand Teton National Park. The parcel was the largest remaining piece of unprotected land within the park and the last of the four parcels of state trust land surrounded by public acreage. 

On December 31, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Grand Teton National Park Foundation announced the completion of the $100 million sale after the foundation succeeded in raising $37.6 million in donations to augment $62.4 million in federal conservation money. Federal policy prohibits the National Park Service from buying land for more than its appraised value, so the foundation stepped in to raise the difference.

The announcement comes days after Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed his approval that the conditions for the state to sell the Kelly Parcel directly to the United States and the park had been met.

During Wyoming’s 2024 budget session, which concluded in March, the Kelly Parcel was a dominating topic as state land managers have recently weighed the fate of the valuable inholding, considering an open-market auction at the end of 2023 that was ultimately postponed amid public pushback.

In a press release from the Interior Department, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland celebrated the finalization of the purchase. “Today marks an incredible milestone, decades in the making, to permanently protect an essential wildlife migration corridor and treasured landscape within Grand Teton National Park,” she said.

According to GTNPF, three anonymous families made significant gifts toward the purchase, with additional support from the National Park Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (through Walmart’s Acres for America Program), and the Jackson Hole Land Trust. Nearly 400 donors across 46 states donated between $10 and $15 million.

The Kelly Parcel purchase benefits both conservation and education, with proceeds supporting Wyoming's public schools. The land is the gateway to the 200-mile-long Path of the Pronghorn—the longest terrestrial migration route in the Lower 48 states—and connects vital corridors for elk and mule deer migrations spanning hundreds of miles across public, private and tribal lands. As part of the purchase deal, existing hunting and grazing access will persist on the property.

This acquisition strengthens Greater Yellowstone's network of protected lands, linking Yellowstone National Park with the Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee national forests, including the Upper Green River Valley and the Wind River, Gros Ventre and Wyoming Range mountains.

After the official closing of the purchase, Grand Teton Superintendent Chip Jenkins drove his truck out to the Kelly Parcel to watch the sunset. The next morning, he skied the perimeter and interior of the parcel, taking in the views and reflecting on the setting.

In an interview, he told Mountain Journal he felt a range of emotions after the official closing of the purchase. “I am very aware of how we expand on the foundation of people who have come before us in this ecosystem,” he said. “I recently learned that the first mention of GTNP acquiring state lands inside [the park] was from 1938. Various people have been working on this for 85 years. We are standing on the foundation created by others.”

Jenkins said that even though Grand Teton is a large national park at 310,000 acres, it’s not big enough to meet the needs of wildlife.

“People come from all over the country and world to see the iconic animals on the land here,” he said. “The reality is that it’s a tough place for wildlife to live in the winter, and animals have different strategies for survival. The Kelly Parcel is a part of the landscape that deer and pronghorn specifically move back and forth through.”

Many deer winter on the Wind River Reservation, and deer and pronghorn winter south of the park. In spring, they migrate up through the Gros Ventre to the park to give birth and fatten up again for the following winter.

“If the Kelly Parcel had become developed, if it had become asphalt and fencing and houses, that would have impinged upon the ability of those animals to migrate,” said Jenkins.

Leslie Mattson, president of the Grand Teton Foundation, said the organization began asking for donor pledges well before they knew if legislation would pass, allowing for a direct sale of the parcel.

“We finally had the opportunity working with Wyoming Senator Mike Gierau, who decided to try to pass the legislation as part of the budget bill,” she said. “We started raising money for the purchase about a year ago, in December 2023.”

Mattson described the sale as a twofer: protecting an important piece of land while benefiting education in Wyoming. 

According to the Interior Department press release, in 2023 more than 10,000 people from across Wyoming and the country participated in a public comment process related to the potential sale of the Kelly Parcel.

Jenkins emphasized that it was Wyomingites who spoke up about wanting to see this land conserved that pushed the deal through. He described it as “humbling” to see people from across the state stand up in public meetings and express their concern, passion and interest in Wyoming wildlife, and their desire to see local, state and federal entities work together to protect it.

“The public spoke, and the Wyoming state government, the Legislature, the National Park Service, and the Interior all responded to that call to action,” Jenkins said.  “Citizens should feel pretty proud that they called for action, and everyone on the government and nonprofit sides responded.”

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