Them on Us: Wolf fans; robust market; Elkfest

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The saga of wolf No. 253M is a story with legs. More legs than the wolf itself, which had lost the use of one of his legs after being caught in a coyote trap in Utah. Fans have nicknamed him “Limpy.”

“Who’s afraid of 253M?” read the headline in the Chicago Tribune article earlier this week. The piece manages to remain fairly objective as it details the points on both sides for Midwest readers.

Excerpt: “While wolf lovers say the population is still rebounding - a healthy number would be 2,000 to 5,000, they insist - many Westerners still think a better number is zero.”

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David Viehman’s Hole Report caught the eye of Forbes magazine. The state of the valley’s real estate market showed a slight slackening for the first quarter of 2008 in the breakneck pace of the home sales. Still, with the rest of the nation suffering through a 2.4 percent decline in home prices in February, news of Jackson’s robust market surprised Forbes.

Viehman said the total dollar value of homes sold was down 48 percent, from $99 million to $52 million, and the number of sales fell 52 percent, from 62 to 30. Still, Viehman said, “[I]t’s easy to argue that our local market is still insulated.”

According to Viehman, locals are holding onto their homes and resisting the temptation to sell before they retire. That, combined with talk of a seven-month moratorium on new housing developments, spells bad news for affordable housing. “It’s good for real estate values. It’s very bad for affordable housing,” Viehman said.

Aftershocks from Viehman’s report were picked up by the Casper Star-Tribune. “High-end Jackson mixes density with subsidies,” read the headline in their Friday edition. Business writer Tom Mast interviewed the Housing Trust’s Anne Hayden-Cresswell. She told the state paper there were two ways to address workforce-housing needs: density and dollars.

“On this issue, time works against us. It doesn’t get easier, it does not get cheaper to build affordable housing the longer you wait,” Hayden said. “[I]f you have an inkling that this is a long-term struggle for your community, to sit around and wait and not do anything can be incredibly damaging.”

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The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce managed to get placement in the Kansas City Star for the upcoming ElkFest. The annual festival includes an antler auction to benefit the Elk Refuge and several local Boy Scout troops. Last year’s event sold 5,379 pounds of antlers for a total of $59,748. The “bull market” manages to attract more than 150 bidders from 28 states every year.

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Colorado’s Grand Junction Sentinel wasn’t too keen on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s proposal to allow concealed-weapons permit holders to carry firearms on lands administered by the National Parks Service.

“I see absolutely no need to expose visitors and law enforcement and wildlife to guns,” said Jack Neckel, a Grand Valley resident and former superintendent of Grand Teton National Park.

“I liken it to a solution looking for a problem,” Rick Smith added. Smith is a member of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, which opposes the rules change.
The Sentinel managed to find one advocate of the proposed legislation, Grand Junction local, Linn Armstrong, who is a National Rifle Association firearms safety instructor and Second Amendment activist. “Particularly, women ought to be able to defend themselves against wild, predatory beasts and wild, predatory humans,” Armstrong said.

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The Washington Post carried a story last week that blasted the same agency for the numerous health and hazard conditions that are allowed to continue in national parks like Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Yosemite.

Carbon monoxide buildup in Yosemite’s Wawona Tunnel is just one of several dozen safety hazards in dire need of repair, according to the report by the Interior Department’s inspector general Also on the list were the deteriorating water systems in Yellowstone and GTNP office headquarters which has not been up to seismic code for 10 years.
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Them on Us: Wolf fans; robust market; Elkfest | Planet JH News Article: General News

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