Oct 2, 2026 · 29 min · 10 segments
The MLB has backed off from building a baseball field in Grand Teton National Park. Wyoming leaders built, and are now trying to dismantle, federal land protections. A Jackson native writes a…
As Wyoming Republicans seek to roll back federal public lands protections, one law that protects forests will likely remain in place.
To look back on how the legal definition of wilderness took shape and what makes its protections more sustainable, we turn to a historic ranch in Grand Teton.
KH Wells' Jenna McMurtry reports from the site where the Wilderness Act of 1964 was first drafted.
The most famous front porch in the Tetons is perhaps the one that once belonged to Olas and Marty Meary.
This place, this property, this house became the epicenter for wilderness preservation.
The humble ranch cabin where the couple lived for decades is tucked away in moose in the southern end of Grand Teton National Park, surrounded by stands of conifers and aspens.
These days, it's no longer a home for the famous conservation couple, but to tours hosted by Teton Science School.
There was a constant flow of people through here.
We know of three presidents, congressmen, senators, governors, scientists, writers.
Jane had been here.
It
was here where the Murys headquartered a decades-long effort to expand Grand Teton's footprint and craft the legal concept of wilderness, which protects access to solitude and areas, quote, untrammeled by man.
And in a spring meeting of 1956, Ols made the recommendation that Howard Zonager be tasked with writing the first draft of the Wilderness Act.
Now a law, the act designates more than 100 million acres of wilderness across the country.
Wallace was a wildlife biologist who ran the National Elk Refuge and later became the president of the Wilderness Society.
Together, the couple ushered in a wave of Wyomingites who would shape federal public lands policy, a legacy that lasts to this day.
Today, it's the state's lone U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman spearheading federal land policy.
But she's at odds with many of today's leaders at the Wilderness Society.
Her bill targeting the roadless rule would end executive branch protections that limit logging and roads in near-pristine forests.
Hageman argues that the rule inhibits forest health and that local control makes for better management.
As Wyoming Republicans seek to roll back federal public lands protections, one law that protects forests will likely remain in place.
To look back on how the legal definition of wilderness took shape and what makes its protections more sustainable, we turn to a historic ranch in Grand Teton.
KH Wells' Jenna McMurtry reports from the site where the Wilderness Act of 1964 was first drafted.
The most famous front porch in the Tetons is perhaps the one that once belonged to Olas and Marty Meary.
This place, this property, this house became the epicenter for wilderness preservation.
The humble ranch cabin where the couple lived for decades is tucked away in moose in the southern end of Grand Teton National Park, surrounded by stands of conifers and aspens.
These days, it's no longer a home for the famous conservation couple, but to tours hosted by Teton Science School.
There was a constant flow of people through here.
We know of three presidents, congressmen, senators, governors, scientists, writers.
Jane had been here.
It
was here where the Murys headquartered a decades-long effort to expand Grand Teton's footprint and craft the legal concept of wilderness, which protects access to solitude and areas, quote, untrammeled by man.
And in a spring meeting of 1956, Ols made the recommendation that Howard Zonager be tasked with writing the first draft of the Wilderness Act.
Now a law, the act designates more than 100 million acres of wilderness across the country.
Wallace was a wildlife biologist who ran the National Elk Refuge and later became the president of the Wilderness Society.
Together, the couple ushered in a wave of Wyomingites who would shape federal public lands policy, a legacy that lasts to this day.
Today, it's the state's lone U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman spearheading federal land policy.
But she's at odds with many of today's leaders at the Wilderness Society.
Her bill targeting the roadless rule would end executive branch protections that limit logging and roads in near-pristine forests.
Hageman argues that the rule inhibits forest health and that local control makes for better management.
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