Teton County Parks and Recreation winter service levels update

JACKSON, Wyo. (KIFI) – The Teton County/Jackson Parks and Recreation Department is preparing for winter services by evaluating staff and resources available for winter services. Below is a list of anticipated winter service levels:

• The Parks Division is responsible for 14 miles of sidewalk clearing and nearly 35 miles of pathway clearing to ensure commuter connectivity during the winter. In addition, staff builds and maintains 4 ice rinks in Teton County: Teton County Fairgrounds, Owen Bircher riding arena, Powderhorn ballfield, and Alta school area. Staff also groom, or support the grooming of, approximately 42 miles of trails weekly in Teton County. The Parks staff are also responsible for ensuring safe access to all publicly owned buildings within the Town and County.
• The Parks Division would like to ask for the community’s patience with timing and quality of groomed trails as new grooming staff are currently being trained. Due to staffing shortages, the
• high school track will not be groomed on Saturdays. If it is determined that staff can accommodate grooming at the high school on Saturdays, it will be added back into the grooming schedule. Grooming activities should not be affected by snow events unless avalanche danger is moderate or high in the backcountry or if conditions dictate that staff can’t perform safely due to visibility or an ongoing snow event. Grooming schedules can be found on the website referenced below. Staff will be utilizing the Nordic Pulse application to update grooming activities in real time HERE. The link is also on the Parks and Recreation website.
• Ice rink information will be updated on the Parks and Recreation ice rinks page on X, formerly known as Twitter, which is linked to the website below. Staff are excited about the rink upgrade at Owen Bircher to ensure more consistency with our other rink operations. The Town and County made a significant investment to ensure a quality facility that is safer and more efficient with respect to maintenance, while ensuring all user groups can continue to utilize the space. There may be times when ice rinks must wait to be cleared and maintained based on the size of the snow event and staffing resources.
• Sidewalk and Pathway plowing maps can be found in the Pathways section of the Parks and Recreation website. Please be aware that based on the snow event, staffing and resources, staff will prioritize sidewalk clearing starting in the Town core and working outward. Maps of routes can be found here.

For the most up to date information on winter service levels, the public is encouraged to visit the Teton County/Jackson Parks and Recreation website. For updates on street clearing, the public is encouraged to visit the Town of Jackson, Streets Division website.