As required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Forest Service must analyze and disclose the potential environmental impacts of Grand Targhee’s proposed projects. This analysis is called an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Because this is a complicated project the Forest Service has analyzed 5 different “Alternatives”, or possible decisions, which were developed based on feedback the agency received during the 2020 “scoping” comment period. Right now, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is available for public review and comment. After the 90-day comment period the Forest Service will consider what the public has said, update and finalize the analysis (EIS), and make a decision based on one of the Alternatives. The final decision does not have to exactly mirror any one of the Alternatives considered; it may be a modified version of one of the Alternatives with elements pulled from one or several of the other Alternatives.

The impacts analyzed this DEIS are classified under the following categories: recreation, scenery, noise, socioeconomics, traffic and parking, cultural resources, public safety, livestock and grazing, Wilderness, air quality, climate change, vegetation, wildlife, geology and soils, hydrology, and wetlands and riparian areas.

This comment period is the public’s most important opportunity to shape the future of Grand Targhee Resort, and indirectly, all of the public lands and communities on the west side of the Tetons. Your comments do not have to address everything in the DEIS but your feedback on the issues you are most familiar with will provide invaluable information to the Forest Service in this decision-making process.