On May 23rd, 2017 at 4pm, we embarked on a journey through a section of Jackson, Wyoming. The area of Jackson that we explored was a residential area with a fairground, a park, and a brewery. The houses in the residential areas were mostly wooden homes and were all shorter homes. We believe that the houses are shorter due to an ordinance that protects the view of the landscape. The park that we passed was Karns Meadow Park. The park had lots of grass and some marshy areas. The fairground was very large and included a dirt area for trading tents, vendors, and a large rodeo ring with seating. We found out that when the fair is occurring, the rodeo ring is mostly used for bull riding and that cowboys will come from out of town to participate. The final major place in the area was the Snake River Brewery. It is currently under construction because they’re expanding their seating area and creating a fire pit and put putt courses outside the front of the brewery. The purpose of the construction is to create more activities for tourists and locals at the brewery.
While at the brewery we spoke with one of the hostesses named Shannon. She is from Rhode Island and she worked on a guest ranch one summer in college and fell in love with the area. She moved back to Jackson about a year ago and currently works at the Snake River Brewery and the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. When asked what the biggest issue in Jackson is Shannon responded that it was housing. She told us about how the apartments and houses are extremely expensive in Jackson and many people can’t afford to rent them. She said that the resort provides limited housing for employees, but that not many other businesses do the same. Shannon also mentioned that some people choose to pay the rent on expensive apartments during the winter, but camp all summer and get a gym membership so that they can shower.
When we returned to our hotel (Elk Country Inn) we spoke with one of the employees at the front desk named Braden. We asked him about the housing issue and he agreed that it was extremely expensive in Jackson and that many people struggled to find homes close to their place of employment. Another employee at the front desk chimed in that on average rent was “$1500 for a one bedroom apartment” per month. Braden then said that when he first began working at the Elk Country Inn the hotel provided housing for the employees that needed it, though it was very crowded. Braden asked us what our group was specifically studying so we told him about our investigation about the repopulation of cutthroat trout. He told us that he fishes a lot and agreed with the repopulation of the cutthroat trout because otherwise the issue will just get worse.
Our journey through Jackson was very exciting and definitely a learning experience. Whether it was us talking to the locals and trying to get a better understanding of the town, or us just walking around and observing all of the spectacular views and buildings. Actually going out into the environment itself was definitely the best way to be able to fully grasp the area and to fully get an understanding of everything going on in Jackson.
To view pictures we took on our exploration of Jackson, click on the link below!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mbtFTMvh4vGX7qvwicE3jM0z6lZsZZYuyxmM1Sd077I/edit?usp=sharing
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