A billionaire’s planned Upper Hoback Road luxury resort could take as long as six years to construct because Sublette County is not granting his request to eliminate seasonal restrictions designed to prevent the displacement of wildlife.
Joe Ricketts, the TD Ameritrade founder whose family co-owns the Chicago Cubs, broke ground this spring on a controversial upscale resort in the Bondurant area that was denied once and has been many years in the making. But the construction season is constrained by protective wildlife stipulations requested by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department: Exterior work is prohibited between Nov. 15 and April 30 to safeguard wintering moose and elk.
Ricketts’ agent Steve Christensen on Tuesday made a proposal to the Sublette County Commission to eliminate the seasonal stipulations in exchange for several measures: limiting construction to daylight hours, imposing a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit on Upper Hoback Road, creating a “wildlife friendly migration corridor” across the ranch and screening a cement batching plant.
Without the restrictions, the build could get done in three years, not six, he told Sublette County commissioners.
Wildlife agency support
Christensen sat alongside Brandon Scurlock, the Pinedale regional wildlife coordinator for Wyoming Game and Fish. Scurlock spoke in support of the amended construction plan.
“Our typical recommendation is that the best mitigation for wintering big game would be adherence to the seasonal stip[ulations],” Scurlock said. “But given all the mitigation the Jackson Fork Ranch is offering and the shorter duration of the disturbance — three years [compared] to six years — I think the overall net impact to wildlife would be reduced by the shorter duration.”
At Game and Fish’s request, seasonal construction restrictions were added to a Sublette County resolution tacked onto a Ricketts’ rezone request that was OK’d in 2022.
The restrictions are specific to moose and elk on “crucial” winter range overlapping the Jackson Fork Ranch, which snakes along miles of the Hoback River just upstream of the McNeel elk feedground.
Portions of the 150-mile-long Sublette Mule Deer Migration Corridor — which takes animals from the Red Desert to the Hoback River basin — also cuts through Ricketts’ ranch, though the state’s migration policy has no effect because it’s private land.
At a Pinedale event last year, Ricketts, whose fortune approaches $7 billion, pitched his luxury resort as a form of conservation for the migration corridor and other natural resources. “We will open up corridors across my ranch during the migration season so that the ungulates can go through,” he told a crowd in May 2023. “Now remember, I told you, we have to get tourists to pay for this stuff in order for it to be successful.”
Because it’s the site of one of Ricketts’ bison farms, extensive high fencing surrounds portions of the Jackson Fork Ranch.
Ricketts claims residency at the Bondurant ranch, which he refers to as part of “Little Jackson Hole.” Christensen declined WyoFile’s interview request after Tuesday’s meeting. A spokesperson for the billionaire didn‘t respond to an inquiry.
Public opposition
Bondurant and Pinedale residents filled the Sublette County commissioners’ small chamber room on Tuesday. Everyone from the public who spoke opposed eliminating the wildlife stipulations currently constraining the construction season.
Dan Bailey criticized Ricketts’ “used car salesman approach” to negotiations.
“Does anybody in this room actually believe that after three years the construction is going to stop?” he said. “Just a few months ago, it was going to be done in three years … Now we’re saying, ‘Well, it’s going to be six years.’”
Lisi Krall, a seasonal Upper Hoback Road resident, directed her remarks at commissioners.
“You are engaged in a process of enabling deception and dishonesty,” she said. “This has been nothing … except a process [of] applying for something and giving approval, and then coming back and changing things and then getting approval for the changes. That’s what the process has been all along.”
Some of Ricketts’ requested changes have been denied. In March 2023, commissioners rebuffed the octogenarian billionaire’s ask to fold another of his holdings — the 159-acre Dead Shot guest ranch — into the larger 1,300-acre Jackson Fork Ranch. At the smaller ranch, Ricketts sought to build an 8,000-square-foot restaurant for guests, bunkhouse, gymnasium, staff quarters and 10 guest cabins of unspecified sizes.
Ricketts has also tried to execute a land trade with the Bridger-Teton National Forest to bridge his primary two Upper Hoback properties. He purchased an inholding up Greys River Road as a bargaining chip for the deal, which never materialized.
Close vote
Sublette County Commissioner Doug Vickrey, who’s been a steady opponent of the Bondurant resort, seized on the billionaire’s “piecemeal” approach to implementing plans.
“These folks agreed to what this original resolution was,” Vickrey said. “Why would we want to change it? I don’t — and I won’t, with my vote — I can tell you that right now.”
Commissioner Dave Stephens, who’s also been reliably opposed to the in-the-works upscale resort, said early on Tuesday that he’d be a no vote also.
The swing vote for the five-person county commission came from Mack Bradley, who pointed out he’s “supported this project from day one.” Year-round construction in exchange for additional mitigation measures “might be a better deal,” he said.
“But I’m not undoing these five signatures [from the 2022 resolution],” Bradley said. “When you started the planning … you knew you were up against this.”
Ricketts’ request to eliminate the seasonal wildlife stipulations failed 3-2, meaning that construction crews will have until Nov. 14 to complete their work in 2024.
Mr Ricketts and Mr Christensen, you agreed to abide by the seasonal restrictions originally. Now live with your decision. Mr Scurlock, not sure why Wyo G&F is changing boats in mid stream. Poor research and decision making process originally, or? I firmly believe that Wyo G&F is not in the business of managing wildlife, but more so managing their pocket book.
Enough said!
thank you for the article. thank you for the people in Sublette County who are standing up in opposition.
Taxes go up for the local people when ever big developers come in. It’s not right!
I remember going to Jackson Hole and staying on a dude ranch. It was wonderful to see nature and wildlife wilderness .
We don’t need to move the city atmosphere to nature.
And we don’t need to destroy nature and more than we have. I can’t say that I trust him. Billionaires believe they have the right to do anything they want regardless of the impact.! I would vote for what is best for the wildlife and the residents.
You don’t want discrimatory ,racist language- threats. Google Joe Ricketts and find out about emails that encompassed pretty much all of this. Please Wyoming don’t show the world our embracing of a guy like this. We shouldn’t want this
Ricketts is no conservationist as he claims. I can’t tell you how many deer, antelope, and elk have died trying to get through his buffalo fence that cuts through a major migration route for big game animals. What he is doing to the Upper Hoback area is beyond belief. We all fought a good fight to stop it but the money won.
This person does not talk about the disruption his projected resort will have on wild life. What is wrong with everyone?
To whom it may concern:
Bondurant is another victim of wealth inequality. These people are going to crush Bondurant. When you lose who you are and where you are, all you will have in the end is your memories.
Agreed!
He needs to invest in the Cubs’ bullpen.
Agreed!
Sad as America goes,the ultra wealthy ,have no sense to preserve ,the freshness ,of the wild aspects of nature. Only to increase,expansion,of and reducing ,privatizing,and showing off there power and control. Many times doing at the behest. Of creating jobs, or some other good deed. How is it too ,many who own bison,when so many native Americans don’t!
A billionaire comes in to build a resort – or whatever – then other millionaires and billionaires come after him to do the something similar (like buy up land) after seeing how great this state really is. Soon the locals get squeezed out of their homes – but the billionaires don’t, and will never, give a rip. It’s happening all over in one form or another. In the Sheridan area money is flowing in from all over and property taxes -abd real estate prices – are pushing local people out.
As a resident of Chicago and also spending time in Wyoming for 40 years, Joe Ricketts does not know the difference between doing something for the community to doing something to the community. Or just does’nt care.
Joe Ricketts poses as a person who pretends to care about community, but in reality he is just another opportunist who thinks he is above and will tread on anything (rights, people, land) to get what he wants.
https://www.heraldtribune.com/videos/news/education/2024/05/19/new-college-of-florida-graduation-students-boo-speaker-chant-free-palestine-joe-ricketts-corcoran/73749070007/
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/education/2024/05/18/joe-ricketts-booed-during-new-college-of-florida-commencement-speech-td-ameritrade/73513816007/
Rickets, a major GOP donor, figured he could just buy his way past any regulations, but it didn’t work this time. Supreme Court justices and members of the US house of Representatives seem to be selling themselves to wealthy republican donors fairly cheap these days, but at least 3 out of 5 of of the Sublette county commissioners had some integrity.
He should put his money into Chicago and the cubs and maintaining wildlife habitat. This will just be a playground for rich people who come and take everything from the area and leave nothing but destruction of the landscape, destruction of wildlife habitat, and drive taxes, rent and everything else up so the local people with family history can not continue living there. Wyoming needs a graduated property tax an acreage over 10,000 acres that goes so high it doesn’t make scenes to own it so billionaires like this, the Wagonhound, the Q ranch, quit coming to Wyoming and destroying the family ranch. They have to be using it for a business tax break. There’s no way they can pay the amount of money they do for the property and actually run a cattle ranch that makes money.
Here is my two-bite, from a North Texan. So a billionaire has purchased more land to build an ultra luxury resort; this will be so pricy, average income families could not afford to stay there. This place will forever change this part of Wyoming. Look what happened to Jackson Hole,
When I went there in the summers on the 60s it was a unique, wonderful town. Then that disease of commercial took over. Look at it now, can’t find a parking place, a high dollar stay for the wealth. What gets out of the bottle, you can’t put back in. Always think of the wildlife, even if it is a
Squirrel or bird. Keep this billionaire hands tied.
So sad to watch the beautiful state of WY be gobbled up by these trillionaires that are purchasing LARGE swathe of land and then change the character of the community. If these wealthy people really loved the area they would leave the land in its natural state, but they turn the beautiful land of WY into an exclusive (millionaires from outside of WY) playground for the rich. The WY government needs to get in front of this situation and be progressive about putting some bills on the ballot for the people to vote on. For example, maybe a bill that limits the acreage of land that can be purchased by non-WY residents. I am sure bright land managers can come up with good laws to help keep WY for WY residents.
Thanks for your reporting, Mike. This story has a lot of moving parts and you’re doing a good job helping readers understand the complexities. For too long, Sublette commissioners had a “beggars can’t be choosers” mentality. Every development proposal was welcomed with open arms, no matter the impact to existing neighbors, wildlife or the environment.
Now, wanting to escape urban sprawl and able to conduct business via high speed connectivity, people are moving to once rural Wyoming areas in droves. That puts Sublette in the “cat bird” seat, able to call the shots, not having to beg for business anymore. It also means residents and commissioners must consider the long range view, and anticipate how unbridled growth will impact our county and way of life twenty and more years from now.
For every developer coming in, there’s more behind them, looking for weak spots in our regulations, waiting for citizen resistance to wane and watching whether our commissioners have the backbone to hold the line or not. We’re no longer beggars, time to be choosers.
Do they really need a giant, expensive resort in the Bondurant area? I don’t think so. The migration has been disturbed so much late with the drilling and exploration going on in the area. I have a great idea. Let them go to Colorado and ruin parts of their state and leave ours alone. The Bondurant area is so beautiful and the increased traffic this resort would bring would just bring more woes to the wildlife and the residents there! Isn’t there some way it can be reversed and the area left as it was????
Thanks for keeping this in the public eyes! Don’t trust Rickett! and I was born in Chicago and a diehard Cub fan!