Standing on top of Grand Targhee, Megan and Margie are nearly two miles above sea level. It would have been a much different picture 9 million years ago. As we look out over the majestic Teton’s with the Grand Teton at 13,770 feet and, on the far left, Mount Moran at over 12,600 ft you may wonder the origin of this great range. The observation deck information reminds us that the mountains are the youngest of the Rocky Mountain uplifts. Created when two rectangular blocks of the Earth’s crust moved like giant trap doors, one swinging upward to form the Tetons and the Valley and the other hinging downward to create the Valley we call Jackson Hole. Even in nature no job is ever fully complete and over the last 200,000 years glacial ice and water provided the final touches that inspire us today.
In 1984, Congress designated the western slope of the Teton Range a Wilderness area – one of 15 designated areas in Wyoming. The Jedediah Smith Wilderness includes 123,451 acres of protected land that is intended to retain its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements or human habitation. Jedediah Smith, also known as the Mountain man, was a clerk, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartographer, and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, North American West, and the Southwest in the early 19th century. There are multiple documentary and historical accounts of the distinctive life of Mr. Smith although many of his accomplishments were recognized only recently.
Fortunately it will not take nearly two hundred years to properly recognize the many accomplishments of Cecil D. Andrus. In 1993 an Idaho wildlife preserve was established in his honor and in recognition of his strong environmental and conservationist passion. Cece was proud of his work for education and has an elementary school named in his honor. The Andrus Center for Public Policy carries on his legacy under the leadership of Tracy Andrus.
In the final page of his memoir Andrus quotes Robert Frost, “we should not have to care so much , you and I.” ” But we do care, Andrus continued, “and we should. We care about the future…I remain hopeful that I will be able to pass on to my grandchildren all of the pleasures of life in an unspoiled West. Perhaps hope should be replaced with a stronger word. It is a matter of obligation.” Cece worked each day to leave it better than he found it. The final chapter could be a life well lived.
Enjoy the Labor Day week end. Mike