Teton National Forest, in western Wyoming, was a United States national forest that would form a constituent part of the present-day Bridger-Teton National Forest. It was first established by the United States General Land Office on February 22, 1897 as the Teton Forest Reserve with 892,440 acres (3,611.6 km2). A commission was established in 1896 to plan for a system of national forest reserves, recommending an expansion of the territory protected by the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve. President Grover Cleveland's 1897 proclamation established a protected area encompassing the northern end of Jackson Hole, extending from the south boundary of the Yellowstone Forest Reserve south to the area of the Gros Ventre River, and from the Idaho border in the west to the area of the Continental Divide in the east. Much of this area would eventually be incorporated into Grand Teton National Park. In 1902 the southern portion of the Yellowstone reserve was added, while the Teton Reserve was greatly expanded to the south and east while excluding the southern portion of Jackson Hole around the town of Jackson. [1]
On January 29, 1903 it was combined with the Yellowstone Forest Reserve, but it was reinstated as a separate unit on July 1, 1908 with 19,911,200 acres (80,578 km2). In 1973 Teton National Forest was administratively combined with Bridger National Forest, creating Bridger-Teton National Forest. [2] In descending order of land area, Teton National Forest is located in parts of Teton, Sublette, Park, Fremont, and Lincoln counties. It is now administrated as part of the Bridger-Teton National Forest from its headquarters in Jackson, but there are local ranger district offices in Jackson and Moran. [3] The forest contains both the Gros Ventre Wilderness and the Teton Wilderness, both officially designated by the National Wilderness Preservation System.
Grand Teton National Park is a national park of the United States in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately 310,000 acres (1,300 km2), the park includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton National Park is only 10 miles (16 km) south of Yellowstone National Park, to which it is connected by the National Park Service–managed John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. Along with surrounding national forests, these three protected areas constitute the almost 18-million-acre (73,000-square-kilometer) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world's largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems.
Teton County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 23,331. Its county seat is Jackson. Its west boundary line is also the Wyoming state boundary shared with Idaho and the southern tip of Montana. Teton County is part of the Jackson, WY-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Jackson is a resort town in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 10,760 at the 2020 census, up from 9,577 in 2010. It is the largest town in Teton County and its county seat. Jackson is the principal town of the Jackson, WY-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Teton County in Wyoming and Teton County in Idaho. The town, often familiarly or mistakenly called Jackson Hole, derives its name from the valley in which it is located. Jackson is a popular tourist destination due to its proximity to the ski resorts Jackson Hole Mountain, Snow King Mountain, and Grand Targhee, as well as Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.
The Absaroka Range is a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about 150 mi (240 km) across the Montana–Wyoming border, and 75 mi (120 km) at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise Valley, and the western side of the Bighorn Basin. The range borders the Beartooth Mountains to the north and the Wind River Range to the south. The northern edge of the range rests along I-90 and Livingston, Montana. The highest peak in the range is Francs Peak, located in Wyoming at 13,153 ft (4,009 m). There are 46 other peaks over 12,000 ft (3,700 m).
Jackson Hole is a valley between the Gros Ventre and Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho, in Teton County. The term "hole" was used by early trappers, or mountain men, as a term for a large mountain valley. These low-lying valleys, surrounded by mountains and containing rivers and streams, are good habitat for beavers and other fur-bearing animals. Jackson Hole is 55 miles (89 km) long by 6-to-13 miles (10-to-21 km) wide and is a graben valley with an average elevation of 6,800 ft, its lowest point being near the southern park boundary at 6,350 ft.
The Teton River is a 64-mile-long (103 km) tributary of the Henrys Fork of the Snake River in southeastern Idaho in the United States. It drains through the Teton Valley along the west side of the Teton Range along the Idaho-Wyoming border at the eastern end of the Snake River Plain. Its location along the western flank of the Tetons provides the river with more rainfall than many other rivers of the region.
The Gros Ventre landslide is in the Gros Ventre Wilderness of Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming, United States. The Gros Ventre landslide is seven miles (11 km) east of Jackson Hole valley and Grand Teton National Park.
Bridger–Teton National Forest is located in western Wyoming, United States. The forest consists of 3.4 million acres, making it the third largest National Forest outside Alaska. The forest stretches from Yellowstone National Park, along the eastern boundary of Grand Teton National Park and from there rides along the western slope of the Continental Divide to the southern end of the Wind River Range. The forest also extends southward encompassing the Salt River Range and Wyoming Range mountains near the Idaho border.
The Beaverhead–Deerlodge National Forest is the largest of the National Forests in Montana, United States. Covering 3.36 million acres (13,600 km2), the forest is broken into nine separate sections and stretches across eight counties in the southwestern area of the state. President Theodore Roosevelt named the two forests in 1908 and they were merged in 1996. Forest headquarters are located in Dillon, Montana. In Roosevelt's original legislation, the Deerlodge National Forest was called the Big Hole Forest Reserve. He created this reserve because the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, based in Butte, Montana, had begun to clearcut the upper Big Hole River watershed. The subsequent erosion, exacerbated by smoke pollution from the Anaconda smelter, was devastating the region. Ranchers and conservationists alike complained to Roosevelt, who made several trips to the area. (Munday 2001)
Caribou–Targhee National Forest is located in the states of Idaho and Wyoming, with a small section in Utah in the United States. The forest is broken into several separate sections and extends over 2.63 million acres (10,600 km2). To the east the forest borders Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and Bridger–Teton National Forest. Most of the forest is a part of the 20-million-acre (81,000 km2) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Teton Wilderness is located in Wyoming, United States. Created in 1964, the Teton Wilderness is located within Bridger-Teton National Forest and consists of 585,238 acres (2,370 km2). The wilderness is bordered on the north by Yellowstone National Park and to the west by Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. The Washakie Wilderness is to the east and the remainder of Bridger-Teton National Forest is to the south. The Teton Wilderness is a part of the 20 million-acre (81,000 km2) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Among many other features, Teton Wilderness is notable for having the most remote location of any place in the contiguous 48 states of the US. This location occurs very close to Bridger Lake, near the confluence of the Thorofare and Yellowstone Rivers, not far from the USFS Hawk's Rest Ranger Station.
The Gros Ventre Wilderness is located in Bridger-Teton National Forest in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Most of the Gros Ventre Range is located within the wilderness.
Blacktail Butte is a butte mountain landform rising from Jackson Hole valley in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Blacktail Butte was originally named Upper Gros Ventre Butte in an early historical survey conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey. Most of Blacktail Butte is densely forested with a mixed fir forest of lodgepole pine, Douglas fir and Engelmann spruce, with scattered pockets of aspen. There are several large sedimentary rock outcroppings, which are used by rock climbers. This butte is a principal landmark in Jackson Hole, with much of the Jackson Hole valley floor and many portions of the Teton Range visible from its hillsides.
Kelly is a census-designated place (CDP) in Teton County in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The population was 138 at the 2010 census.
Pierre's Hole is a shallow valley in the western United States in eastern Idaho, just west of the Teton Range in Wyoming. At an elevation over 6,000 feet (1,830 m) above sea level, it collects the headwaters of the Teton River, and was a strategic center of the fur trade of the northern Rocky Mountains. The nearby Jackson's Hole area in Wyoming is on the opposite side of the Tetons.
The Bridger National Forest was first established by the U.S. Forest Service on July 1, 1911 in Wyoming with 577,580 acres (2,337.4 km2) from part of Bonneville National Forest. On May 14, 1923 Bridger was transferred Wyoming National Forest, and the name was discontinued. On March 10, 1943 Wyoming was renamed Bridger. In 1973 Bridger National Forest was administratively combined with Teton National Forest, creating Bridger-Teton National Forest. In descending order of land area, Bridger National Forest lands are located in Sublette, Lincoln, Fremont, and Teton counties. There are local ranger district offices in Afton, Big Piney, Kemmerer, and Pinedale. Its administrative headquarters reside in Jackson, Wyoming as part of the combined Bridger-Teton National Forest. Its current area of 1,736,075 acres (7,025.65 km2) represents 51.02% of the combined Bridger-Teton's area of 3,402,644 acres (13,770.01 km2). The forest includes all of the National Wilderness Preservation System's officially designated Bridger Wilderness.
Yellowstone National Forest was first established by the United States General Land Office on March 30, 1891 as the Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve of 1,239,040 acres (5,014.2 km2). On May 22, 1902 it became the Yellowstone Forest Reserve with lands of 6,580,920 acres (26,632.0 km2).
The Gros Ventre Range is part of the Central Rocky Mountains and is located west of the Continental Divide in U.S. state of Wyoming. The name "Gros Ventre" is French for "big belly." The highest summit in the range is Doubletop Peak at 11,720 feet (3,570 m). The Gros Ventre Range is mostly within the Gros Ventre Wilderness of Bridger–Teton National Forest. To the northwest of the range lies the valley known as Jackson Hole. Snow King ski resort is in the range adjacent to the town of Jackson, Wyoming. Also in the Gros Ventre Range is the Gros Ventre landslide, which in 1925 slid down the north slope of Sheep Mountain.
Sheep Mountain is located in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Sheep Mountain forms a 5-mile (8 km) long ridge in the Gros Ventre Range and is easily seen from Jackson Hole. The town of Jackson is 13 miles (21 km) southwest of the peak. The southern end of Sheep Mountain is above the tree line and consists of rocky cliffs that are referred to as the "Sleeping Indian" due to their appearance as viewed from Jackson Hole. Sheep Mountain is in the Gros Ventre Wilderness of Bridger–Teton National Forest. At the northern end of Sheep Mountain is the location of the Gros Ventre landslide.
The following articles relate to the history, geography, geology, flora, fauna, structures and recreation in Grand Teton National Park.