Conservation groups Wyoming Wildlife Advocates and Defenders of Wildlife filed a legal challenge Wednesday against a 2014 National Park Service decision to give authority over inholdings in Grand Teton National Park to the state of Wyoming. Inholdings are parcels of land that are located inside the park, but are either state or privately owned.
Tim Preso is the attorney representing the conservation groups. Preso says the park service’s decision reversed 60 years of protections for wildlife within the boundaries of the park.
"With the stroke of a pen the park service abruptly terminated that wildlife protection and allowed Wyoming law to apply on those inholding properties. That opens the door to regulated hunting within the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park," says Preso.
Wyoming Game and Fish Spokesman Renny Mackay says hunting is not a new thing for the park.
"There’s been the elk reduction program with hunting in Grand Teton since the inception of that park. So in Grand Teton that has been part of a founding of that park and stands a tradition there," says Mackay.
The conservation groups that filed the challenge will now wait for a response from the federal government.