The Moose-Wilson pathway is a go.
A Friday amendment to a previous decision enables the construction of a pathway that runs adjacent to the road, while following a new alignment between the Sawmill Ponds Overlook and Death Canyon Road.
The National Park Service amended a 2016 decision that determined building the pathway would have “adverse impacts” to wildlife habitat and a major archaeological site.
The new decision doesn’t disagree about the impacts, but adds efforts to counter them. The Interior Department’s Acting Intermountain Regional Direct Bert Frost signed the Record of Decision amendment Friday. The project is estimated to cost the park north of $30 million, according to the Jackson Hole News&Guide.
The park service spells out some concessions in the 511-page record of decision to “reduce impacts to wildlife, wetlands and cultural resources,” which it acknowledges will result from implementation.
“The pathway’s narrow serpentine alignment, its concentration of development near the [Laurence S. Rockefeller Preserve], the closure from sunset to sunrise, and closure during wildlife-related needs are designed to reduce these effects,” the amendment reads. It suggests the “adverse impacts” won’t be “wide-scale or severe.”
No new studies or analysis contributed to the reversal decision, but the reevaluation puts the area’s management plan in line with February updates to the National Environmental Policy Act, the decision reads.
The reversal was also a response to a 2025 executive order calling for the beautification of national parks and the review of rules that “unnecessarily restrict recreation in national parks.” The move also comes in the backdrop of a federal administration that has prioritized “accelerating project approvals” and “sweeping reforms” to NEPA procedures.
The park service first announced in March that it would take another look at the 2016 Environmental Impact Study.
Renee Seidler takes issue with the quick turnaround. She’s the executive director of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation.
“What was determined in 2016 was that this is not good for wildlife,” Seidler said.
The 2016 environmental review recommended against building the pathway because it would cause “significant net increases in wildlife habitat disturbance and fragmentation, changes to the character and visual quality of the corridor, and adverse impacts on a major archeological site.”
Seidler said the pathway could put pedestrians and cyclists in harm’s way of a wildlife corridor where cars often slow to watch grizzly bears and moose. The 2016 report acknowledged that a pathway could “[pose] wildlife-related safety concerns for visitors.”
But some say the reversal is a win for cyclists. The approximately 8-mile stretch would close the “Grand Loop,” a 35-mile pathway route cyclists praise for limited shared shoulders.
Sam Petri, communications director of Friends of Pathways, believes the pathway could encourage visitors to enter the park sans car, which he thinks could be a positive for wildlife.
“We think it’s a win for people and the park. We think it’s great for people who want to walk and bike in Grand Teton National Park and for the environment,” Petri said.
