Associate Professor of Political Science Erika Allen Wolters co-authors a new study that explores the motivations behind the public’s opposition to auctioning protected land adjacent to Grand Teton National Park
Erika Wolters
By Colin Bowyer, Communications Manager - September 16, 2025
Protected public lands in the Western U.S. are under direct pressure from human development, which threatens habitats, migration corridors, and ecosystem health. Oftentimes in more rural, nature abundant spaces, where housing demand is high and availability is low, land development involves converting public land to housing. Yet, public support of federal or state-owned and managed land in the 11 states that compromise the American West is generally high, with most people opposed to removing the protected status of public lands.
In 2023, one square mile of state-owned land in Wyoming was considered for private sale because the market value was significantly greater than the current revenue streams. The tract, known as the Kelly Parcel, shares its boundaries with Grand Teton National Park and is considered part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Complicating the originally proposed sale to the National Park Service (NPS), which previously bought land around Grand Teton National Park from the State of Wyoming, was this parcel’s proximity to Jackson, Wyoming, where some of the highest land values exist in the U.S. The appraised value of $100 million for the one square mile parcel effectively pushed NPS out of contention and opened up the parcel to auction off for potential private investors. Prior to an action by the state, Wyoming representatives released a plan to auction off the parcel, which allowed for a public comment period.
Combing through nearly 7,000 in-person, mail, and online comments, Erika Allen Wolters, associate professor of political science at the School of Public Policy, Kevin Pirch, professor of political science at Eastern Washington University, and Devin Holterman, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Northern British Columbia, identified several themes and subthemes that were common concerns of people who expressed opposition to the sale. The authors’ findings were published in the Journal of Rural Studies in October 2025.
“Even though, comparatively, this is a small piece of land,” said Wolters, “this parcel assumes outweighed importance because of what the land represents. Particularly for those opposed for reasons of natural preservation and anti-development. People are keenly aware of the increased threat to development on public lands, both for this relatively small parcel and more broadly throughout the West.”
Respondents’ concerns were grouped into five major overarching themes: economic issues, anti-development, natural preservation, access, and pragmatic solutions (i.e. the mechanisms of the potential sale). Many comments in opposition overlapped and blurred the lines between the themes. Recorded by in-person remarks, as well as email and direct-mail correspondence, respondents especially highlighted the financial benefits of tourism and grazing, while also suggesting that a private sale would exclusively benefit the wealthy, cut off access, and hurt local flora and fauna.
“This can be viewed as a class issue and the wealth component of Northeastern Wyoming makes this a really unique, extreme case,” explained Wolters. “Rural gentrification and amenity migration is happening in towns and regions throughout the West and the notion of access to public lands is becoming a bigger concern. In our study, there were clear responses that you could identify as rural resentment.”
Previous studies have shown that conservation of public and protected lands is a bi-partisan issue, with broad levels of opposition. As the American West faces development challenges to public and protected lands, a majority of the public oppose the transition away from protected places for privatization. Current efforts to transfer ownership of federally protected lands in the U.S. have been met with swift and decisive anti-privatization and anti-growth opposition.
“As more instances of public land are considered for private sale,” Wolters said, “people are asking themselves what is the West going to look like in 5 - 10 years? What do we want it to look like for the next generation? The potential Kelly Parcel sale reinforced the idea that efforts to transfer ownership of public lands will continue to meet with strong opposition, suggesting that modifying public lands for any reason will require substantial buy-in of the public.”
In December 2024, the National Park Service announced that they purchased the Kelly Parcel from the State of Wyoming for $100 million dollars with help from the Grand Teton National Park Foundation.