JACKSON—The U.S. Department of the Interior is planning to move forward with intent to construct a bike path along the Moose-Wilson Road, despite concerns raised by Teton County commissioners and Jackson town councilors.
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Kevin Lilly responded Nov. 3 to a letter commissioners wrote expressing disappointment in the way the department made the decision to build the path. Officials determined that the environmental impacts of a path were “sufficiently analyzed” in 2016 and further environmental review was not necessary, Lilly wrote.
Lilly’s letter linked to a National Park Service webpage with frequently asked questions about the Moose-Wilson corridor, which said construction on one section of the path near Moose could begin in the summer of 2027.
“As the amended decision moves into implementation, the NPS will continue communicating with Teton County as project design and implementation details are developed,” Lilly wrote to commissioners.
But county commissioners and advocates are unhappy with the response.
Joan Anzelmo, who reformed the Friends of the Moose-Wilson Corridor group to fight the path, called the response “totally unacceptable” and an “insult to public participation and gateway community engagement” in a news release sent Monday.
After President Donald Trump issued an executive order in April aimed at eliminating rules that needlessly restrict recreation in national parks, Grand Teton National Park announced it would revisit a decade-old decision not to construct a path along the 7.1-mile roadway. Park service officials did not conduct further environmental analysis, instead opting to look back at environmental reviews from 2016 and explore the possibility of coming to a different conclusion.
In August, park officials announced they would build the path, leading advocates like Anzelmo to push the town and county to oppose it.
In the county’s original letter, commissioners pointed to Secretarial Order 3434, which directed national park service officials to meet regularly with leaders from gateway communities. The order directs the park service to alert gateway communities to major changes and the county said the decision to build the path “warranted earlier and more meaningful engagement with the County and the broader gateway community.”
Lilly’s letter referenced a June 2026 “gateway community meeting.” Neither Anzelmo nor the Jackson Hole Daily was aware of the meeting.
“I’m not aware of any public meeting,” Anzelmo told county commissioners Monday morning.
Teton County commissioners, meanwhile, floated the idea of requesting an in-person meeting with Lilly. Commissioner Len Carlman suggested meeting in Moose and possibly walking the Moose-Wilson Road with officials from the Interior department.
“A walk on the corridor would be a good use of time and help that official understand our concerns,” Carlman said.
Commissioner Luther Propst said the county should send representatives to Washington if the Interior Department does not come to Jackson Hole.
“If they don’t want to come here for an on-site visit, maybe it means … that some of us should go to D.C. to schedule those meetings,” Propst said.
The community wants “public participation,” Propst said, “rather than just administrative fiat.”
The path is expected to cost between $35 million and $39 million, according to the park service’s planning website. Officials have not yet fully identified where those funds will come from.
