Wyoming Public Schools Receive $100 million from Land Sale
Grand Teton National Park Foundation Raises $37.6 Million to Match $62.4 Million from Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund for the Purchase
JACKSON, WY, DECEMBER 30, 2024—Today the Department of the Interior purchased the 640-acre Kelly parcel within Grand Teton National Park from the State of Wyoming for $100 million. The acquisition was made possible by the successful completion of a twelve-month campaign executed by Grand Teton National Park Foundation that raised $37.6 million in private philanthropic funds. When combined with $62.4 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, proceeds from the $100 million sale will be invested into Wyoming’s Common School Permanent Fund, benefitting the state’s schoolchildren for decades.
The newly conserved land, known as the Kelly parcel, was state school trust land and the largest remaining piece of unprotected land within the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park. The area provides critical wildlife habitat and extraordinary open space. It is also located within a key migration corridor for pronghorn, elk, and mule deer. The permanent conservation of this square mile maintains essential connectivity for wildlife in the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—one of the last remaining, nearly intact temperate ecosystems on the planet. Grand Teton National Park anchors this unique landscape, connecting Yellowstone National Park with the Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee national forests, including the Upper Green River Valley and the Wind River, Gros Ventre, and Wyoming Range mountains.
“We are so proud to have helped enable this incredible achievement for the American people, Grand Teton National Park, and the state of Wyoming,” Grand Teton National Park Foundation President Leslie Mattson said. “We are in awe of the incredible generosity of hundreds of people who stepped forward to protect this essential parcel while supporting public education in Wyoming.”
"Thank you to the Grand Teton National Park Foundation for their extraordinary support in this huge conservation achievement,” Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins said. "We simply would not be here today without them and the thousands of people who raised their voice in support of conserving this important part of the park."
Key donors that made lead gifts include two generous anonymous families. Conservation funders for the effort include the National Park Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through Walmart’s Acres for America Program, and the Jackson Hole Land Trust. In addition, nearly 400 donors from forty-six states made gifts ranging from ten dollars to $15 million, including many individuals and foundations. The Conservation Fund provided a bridge loan to support multi-year pledge commitments provided by donors in order to close the real estate transaction.
This achievement would not have been possible without the support of stakeholders from across the state of Wyoming. We would like to thank the numerous conservation and sportsmen organizations that advocated for the permanent protection of the Kelly parcel, as well as many Wyoming legislators and leaders, including Governor Mark Gordon and Senator Mike Gierau, who supported the preservation of the parcel and the purchase by the National Park Service.
Today’s closing on the Kelly parcel completes an effort that spanned decades to exchange, trade, or sell the state-owned school trust land within Grand Teton. A Wyoming constitutional mandate requires that school trust lands, created at statehood in 1890, must generate income for the common school trust. Since the late 1990s, Wyoming’s congressional delegation, governor, and state legislature have worked to resolve this inholding challenge. The late U.S. Senator Craig Thomas passed legislation in 2003 to authorize exchanges, sales, or trades that would compensate Wyoming for the Grand Teton school section inholdings. The second to last school section in the park, known as Antelope Flats, was purchased by the National Park Service in 2016 for $46 million, which was made possible by $23 million in philanthropic support raised by Grand Teton National Park Foundation and the National Park Foundation that matched $23 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Today’s historic purchase, through a combination of private philanthropy and federal funding, continues the tradition and generosity that helped establish Grand Teton National Park. It carries on the vision and legacy of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Laurance S. Rockefeller, and the Rockefeller family, who recognized the role of philanthropy in the permanent protection of critical lands for the public.
