Comments on Proposed Updates to the 2012 Comprehensive Plan

September 10, 2020

Comments submitted on behalf of Wyoming Outdoor Council, Protect Our Water Jackson Hole, and the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance in response to the Public Review Draft of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan Update released on July 29, 2020. Our comments focus on the demonstrated need to include enhanced water quality protections in the updated Comp Plan, and offer a number of suggestions for strengthening the level of protection for our critically important water resources.

Proposal for Rulemaking to Protect Teton County’s Public Water Systems

September 1, 2020

Proposal submitted on behalf of  Protect Our Water Jackson Hole and Wyoming Outdoor Council recommending a draft rule for consideration that would require all public water systems located in Teton County to register with the health department. Also, in the event that nitrate levels in public water systems reach 3 mg/L or higher, a number of actions would be triggered, including reporting and public notice. The proposed rule also specifies that if nitrate levels exceed 3 mg/L in two consecutive months, or three times in any calendar year, an investigation of the public water system, wellhead(s), and surrounding area must be conducted. The final provision requires all public water systems in Teton County to have a Wyoming DEQ-approved source water assessment and source water protection plan on file with the health department, and to make those plans available to the public upon request.

Wastewater Is Key to Reducing Nitrogen Pollution

Scientific American – June 2, 2016

Upgrading wastewater treatment plants can dramatically reduce a municipality’s nitrogen footprint. Upgrading wastewater treatment facilities as well as household septic systems can be expensive, but such measures can dramatically return bodies of water to health.

Request to deny upzone proposals in Northern South Park pending comprehensive wastewater management planning

August 21, 2020

Comments submitted on behalf of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Wyoming Outdoor Council, and Protect Our Water Jackson Hole requesting a county-wide wastewater management plan to precede –and inform– any large and unplanned changes to the county’s development.

Septic tanks aren't keeping feces out of rivers, lakes

ScienceDaily – Michigan State University, August 3, 2015

The notion that septic tanks prevent fecal bacteria from seeping into rivers and lakes simply doesn’t hold water, says a 2015 study. A team of water detectives has discovered freshwater contamination stemming from septic systems.

Approved Waste Management Planning Cost Share Proposal

Revised proposal that lays out the funding request details in partnership with Teton Conservation District that was submitted to the Teton County Commissioners and approved on June 30, 2020.

Great Gravel

Montana Outdoors, July-August 2017

New research shows how underground floodplains maintain healthy river “immune systems”.

Invisible Rivers Beneath our Feet with Dr. Ric Hauer

National Museum of Wildlife Art and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

Dr. Ric Hauer’s presentation of “Invisible Rivers Beneath our Feet” about gravel-bed ecosystems with a special introduction by Dr. Harvey Locke.

Gravel-bed river floodplains are the ecological nexus of glaciated mountain landscapes

Science Advances Vol 2, No. 6 03 June 2016

In the glaciated regions of the Rocky Mountains, essentially from the Yellowstone area in northwestern Wyoming, United States, to Yukon, Canada, gravel-bed rivers are disproportionately important to regional biodiversity and to landscape-scale ecological integrity. Research conducted in this mountain region, across a wide variety of fields in ecology and diverse taxa, has highlighted the importance of these gravel-bed rivers to an unexpectedly high proportion of the region’s aquatic, avian, and terrestrial species. Although gravel-bed river floodplains play a disproportionately important role in sustaining native plant and animal biodiversity, they have also been disproportionately affected by human infrastructure and activities.

An Ecosystem’s Lifeblood, Flowing Through Gravel

The New York Times

“A river doesn’t just flow down the channel,” said F. Richard Hauer, a professor of stream ecology at the University of Montana and the lead author of the paper. “It flows over and through the entire flood plain system, from valley wall to valley wall, and supports an extraordinary diversity of life…A river is a huge, huge biodiversity engine with multiple parts. If you keep taking out parts, pretty soon the engine stops.”