BTNF ambassadors ask $400k for campfire, bear jam and dispersed-camp patrols

At the crowded trailhead, the roadside bear jam or the dispersed campsite with a fire ring still smoking, Friends of the Bridger-Teton wants more people in the field before a bad decision becomes a wildfire, a dead bear or a SAR call. Its FY27 request asks the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board for $400,000 for Ambassadors for Responsible Recreation, according to the funding application.

The program would put trained ambassadors at high-use Bridger-Teton National Forest sites in Teton County, including trailheads, dispersed camping areas, roadside wildlife viewing spots and district front desks. The work is practical and not especially glamorous: safety briefings, wayfinding, extinguishing abandoned campfires, securing food and trash, managing bear jams, cleaning and stocking vault toilets, coordinating with Forest Service staff and logging GPS-tagged patrol reports.

The application says the program started in 2021 and, in 2025, deployed 42 summer ambassadors across 23 sites on five BTNF districts. For Teton County's summer 2025 work, Friends reports more than 9,000 visitor contacts, 64 unattended campfires extinguished, 109 food-storage violations secured, 100 campers moved out of non-designated areas and more than 40 Togwotee bear jams managed. The group says ambassador-covered areas have had zero human-wildlife conflicts and zero escaped campfires since the program began.

For the next year, Friends is aiming higher: at least 14,000 staff and volunteer hours, 45,000 visitor contacts, 100 abandoned or escaped campfires addressed and 200 food or trash violations corrected. If the tourism board does not fully fund the ask, the group says it would cut shifts, sites and vehicles, focusing what remains on the highest-risk campfire, food-storage and wildlife hot spots.