County letter sharpens ask: full cooperating-agency role, not just a meeting

A letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum dated October 5, the day of the Teton County Board of County Commissioners' meeting, asks the Department to "reconsider the corridor-length pathway decision and include Teton County's input as a cooperating agency before proceeding" on the National Park Service's August 14 amendment adding a separated multiuse pathway to the Moose-Wilson Corridor. The letter's closing request goes further than earlier language, asking Interior to analyze alternatives to the pathway, reassess conditions since the 2016 Record of Decision, and "engage Teton County and other affected local partners as cooperating agencies." Cooperating-agency status under the National Environmental Policy Act requires signing a memorandum of understanding with the lead federal agency; the County held that status in the original 2016 environmental review but says it was excluded from the 2026 reevaluation.

The ask has hardened since the Board's September 28 draft of the same letter, which asked Interior only "to meet with the County before further implementation" rather than naming cooperating-agency status outright. Both versions cite the County's January 26, 2016 comment letter, in which the Board, then chaired by Barbara Allen, opposed a corridor-length separated pathway and recommended traffic calming and targeted climbing lanes instead. Whether Interior grants the formal role, rather than simply meeting with commissioners, will determine how much say the County gets in any revised environmental review.