Teton County committee keeps wildlife overlay work moving; committee and staff eye short- and long-term collision fixes

The Teton County Wildlife Advisory Committee and county commissioners heard updates and urged a mix of short- and long-term steps Tuesday as they continue work on a revised natural-resources overlay and plans to reduce wildlife–vehicle collisions.

Committee members and county officials said the county has received updated habitat mapping and other data from Idaho Department of Fish and Game and outside researchers, that the county has four consultant applications under consideration, and that staff will keep soliciting qualified wildlife-habitat consultants while committee work continues.

Why it matters: Commissioners and the committee said the overlay and the habitat-analysis process are intended as a sensitive screening tool to flag where more detailed analyses are required. Officials said that, without good data, it will be harder to plan longer-term infrastructure such as wildlife overpasses or underpasses — projects that officials said can cost tens of millions of dollars. In the meantime, residents and committee members pushed for more immediate, low-cost measures where possible to reduce collisions.

County history and the committee charge were discussed in detail. "We went from that informal organization... Bob Hennish found an old email chain that Weston Davis, one of the prosecutors, had reviewed the resolutions they were crafted in house by the commission, and then we adopted I think it was in 05/09/2022," a county commissioner said, summarizing the committee's formalization and earlier work to craft the overlay and habitat-analysis (WHA) process. The committee's stated role is to refine the overlay and to help design how the county triggers and uses habitat analyses during development review.

Committee members and staff described the overlay as intentionally sensitive: it is intended to screen broadly so projects that may affect important habitat are flagged for a Wildlife Habitat Analysis (WHA). "The NRO is a screening tool," one county staff member said. A WHA is the second step: "It may say there's nothing here. But that is what gets triggered to then really dive deep into all these processes."

Staff told the group the county has already received two sets of Fish and Game data: a detailed telemetry-based migration model for the north end of the valley and a broader set of generalized corridors for other parts of the valley where telemetry numbers are not sufficient for fine-scale modeling. The report and associated maps are available on the county website, staff said.

On consultant selection and quality control, commissioners and staff said the county has received four consultant applications and will continue to solicit more to get a competitive pool. "We've had four applications from different biology consultant companies. So we can continue that," a county official said. Staff and committee members said a major goal is to standardize WHA deliverables so permit reviewers and planning commissioners receive consistent, comparable reports rather than a wide range of formats and quality.

Collision mitigation planning and short-term measures drew sustained attention. Renee Seidler, executive director of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, summarized the scale and pace of work required: "Reducing wildlife vehicle collisions is not necessarily low-hanging fruit; it's very expensive to effectively reduce wildlife vehicle collisions and it takes a long time to get there to the effective solutions." She and other speakers urged building a data foundation (carcass surveys, ITD and sheriff crash data, Fish and Game records) to identify hot spots and species-specific needs, and using that evidence to compete for state and federal planning and construction grants.

Speakers sketched a two-track approach: (1) immediate, lower-cost actions such as targeted education and outreach, periodic volunteer carcass surveys to map hotspots, and strategic temporary signage; (2) multi-year planning and engineering for crossing structures, fencing and associated funneling that can cost millions. One committee member noted the rough order of magnitude for a fully designed crossing project: about $30 million for a multi-element project (overpasses/underpasses, fish passage, miles of funnel fencing), and cited roughly $30,000 for a single high-end dynamic sign as an example of short-term capital cost.

The committee also discussed exemptions and permit burden. Staff said the overlay and WHA policy include an exemption for small projects: projects of 5 acres or less within a particular seasonal forage overlay can be exempted from a full WHA under current drafts. Commissioners asked staff to continue working on additional, targeted exemptions to reduce undue burdens on private projects while preserving the screening function.

Interagency coordination was flagged as essential. Speakers asked the county to stay aligned with Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), Idaho Department of Fish and Game, federal highways and neighboring jurisdictions in Wyoming, given cross-state movements of wildlife and nearby mitigation planning on Wyoming's Teton Pass. "At some point it'd be great to get commissioners and staff and transportation departments together and we're all on the same page for those two highways," a committee member said.

Several community outreach events were noted: a town-hall meeting on roads scheduled for Feb. 27 (time and venue cited by participants) and a public hearing scheduled for March 5. The committee encouraged volunteers and community science contributions to data collection and recommended early public education as part of any collision-reduction strategy.

Discussion outcomes and next steps: committee members agreed to continue soliciting consultant applications, to pursue coordinated data collection (including volunteer carcass surveys), to refine WHA templates and to plan community outreach tied to grant opportunities such as the federal SS4A-type planning funding referenced in the discussion. No formal ordinance or policy adoption occurred at this meeting; staff and the committee plan to bring revised materials and public hearings back to the board for formal action.

The meeting closed with committee members and commissioners reiterating support for keeping the committee active. "So Alright. So, we're still a committee," one participant said, and several members offered to meet with staff and applicants to refine consultant qualifications and outreach plans.

Ending note: County staff said the Fish and Game report and associated maps are posted on the county website and will form the basis for continued WHA policy revisions and collision-planning grant applications.