County backs Wild and Scenic eligibility for 1992 river segments

The Board of County Commissioners approved a letter to Ms. Bekee Hotze, acting forest supervisor of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, that tells the Forest Service to keep Wild and Scenic eligibility on the table for the river segments identified in the county's 1992 analysis. The letter went forward with four changes, three typographical fixes and one new sentence recommending maintenance of eligibility for all those segments.County Board Meeting Minutes and Financials Packet

That matters because Wild and Scenic eligibility is the first gate in a federal protection process for rivers with scenic, recreational, ecological, fish, or geologic values. Teton County is still working from a 1992 analysis, even as some Snake River headwaters segments already carry federal designation under the 2008 Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act. For people who watch the valley's riparian corridors and migration routes, the county's letter keeps pressure on the Forest Service to treat those river reaches as more than scenery.County Board Meeting Minutes and Financials Packet