by Amy L. Schneckenburger, FASLA
The National Park Service Connected Conservation (C2) webinar mini-series continues this week with the ninth installment: The Mountain Neighbor Handbook: A Local’s Guide to Stewardship in the Tetons on Tuesday, March 7, at 2:00 p.m. (ET) (the webinar is now available as a recording). Learn how individuals can help nature conservation by living more sustainably, volunteering, recreating responsibly, and motivating one another to take conservation actions.
The webinar will highlight this community-focused handbook, which was released in October 2022 and was created by Wyoming’s Teton County, the Town of Jackson, Teton Conservation District, and the Jackson Hole Land Trust. The publication serves as an introduction and an invitation to environmental stewardship.
We’ll have five presenters involved with the project:
- Phoebe Coburn, Communications Specialist, Teton Conservation District
- Carlin Girard, Executive Director, Teton Conservation District
- Chris Colligan, Project Manager, Teton County, WY
- Max Ludington, President, Jackson Hole Land Trust
- Chip Jenkins, Superintendent, Grand Teton National Park
Rural growth and tourism pose a growing conservation challenge for gateway communities near parks and public lands. This is especially true for communities in Teton County, Wyoming, who take pride living with wildlife and being good land stewards but who also want to see this tradition continue. Proactively, partners came together and released The Mountain Neighbor Handbook: A Local Guide to Stewardship in the Tetons. Both Grand Teton National Park and the Grand Teton National Park Foundation are supporting the initiative. The guide provides place-based advice for living with wildlife, protecting water, recreating responsibly, living with wildfire, energy conservation, waste management, and other topics relevant to new and longtime residents alike. Join the webinar to learn how partners worked together to develop a new model for locally led conservation that can be replicated by other communities across the United States and around the world.
You can view past webinar recordings on C2’s website.
For questions on the March webinar, please contact:
Chip Jenkins
Superintendent, Grand Teton National Park
Bryan Faehner
Stewardship and Science Coordinator, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science, National Park Service
Amy L. Schneckenburger, FASLA, is the National Park Service’s Program Manager for the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) and Program Manager, Disaster Recovery (2018DS), for Regions 8, 9, 10 and 12 (formerly Pacific West Region).