Gov. Mead will consider trade for Teton land

Gov. Matt Mead said Monday he hasn't seen a proposal of what lands the federal government will offer to swap for state holdings in Grand Teton National Park but doesn't want to wait years to resolve the issue. Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Sweetwater County, Mead said he talked last week with U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell when she was in Wyoming to tour the state-owned areas within Grand Teton. The federal government had agreed a few years ago to a four-phase, $107 million purchase of the nearly 1,300 acres of state-owned lands within the park. The federal government already has closed on the first phases, the purchase of minor state mineral rights in early 2012, followed late last year by the purchase of 86 acres of state land for $16 million. But federal officials now say they don't have the money to consummate the main transaction: the purchase of two state-owned sections for more than $40 million each. "It's clear to me that there is not going to be a cash deal," Mead said. "The federal government just doesn't have the money." Mead said Jewell assured him that the federal government is committed to acquiring the state parcels but would have to look at trading federal land elsewhere. "Conceptually, I'm open to that," he said. "But the devil's in the details."...more