David Wilkinson, a Bridger-Teton National Forest recreation technician and travel planner, installs a sign at the Curtis Canyon overlook this past summer.
, part of an effort to keep off-highway vehicles from marring the landscape. Officials are taking public comment on plans to improve the Curtis Canyon Campground.
David Wilkinson, a Bridger-Teton National Forest recreation technician and travel planner, installs a sign at the Curtis Canyon overlook this past summer.
, part of an effort to keep off-highway vehicles from marring the landscape. Officials are taking public comment on plans to improve the Curtis Canyon Campground.
Ecowatch is a feature highlighting opportunities to weigh in on projects on public lands, and to provide brief updates on other environmental issues. This week’s briefs were compiled by reporter Billy Arnold. Did we miss something? Email barnold@jhnewsandguide.com.
Comment on Curtis rehab
The Bridger-Teton National Forest is accepting public comment on five proposed projects in the Curtis Campground area, including repairing the road, increasing the size of the campground and relocating the Goodwin Lake Trailhead.
Forest managers said they were interested in doing so this summer as they tried to get a hold on a deluge of visitors, human waste on the landscape and people driving off-highway vehicles across hillsides.
Curtis is the closest campground to Jackson, meaning it’s typically slammed with visitors all summer long. In a Tuesday press release the Bridger-Teton said crews are struggling to keep up with road maintenance and were concerned about safety, vegetation loss, a poor visitor experience — and human waste.
Today is the deadline to apply for research and conservation grants from the Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund and the Teton Conservation District’s Partners in Conservation program.
In 2022 the Raynes Wildlife Fund put money toward research on harlequin ducks, parasites in sagebrush songbirds, using scat to determine a population estimate for Teton range bighorn sheep, and invertebrates living in bison rangelands.
In earlier years money has been used to study flammulated owls, amphibians in Grand Teton National Park’s beaver ponds and the impact of climate change on plants’ spring blooms. The Wildlife Fund typically gives researchers between $3,000 and $5,000.
“We’ve provided some really important research on some little-known species,” Wildlife Fund board President Mary Lohuis said. “We don’t do a lot on the big megafauna.”
Conservation District Executive Director Carlin Girard said his board likes to fund “projects where there is conservation occurring on the ground.”
That means projects that result in things like cleaner water, vegetation reclamation and the expansion of wildlife habitats. The district accepts applications in five categories: land, water, vegetation, wildlife, geographic information systems, sustainability and education.
On average the Conservation District gives out $10,000 per funded request.
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