How Betty Woolsey’s 270-acre Wyoming ranch near Jackson Hole was protected

PC: Jackson Hole News & Guide Long before Jackson Hole became a destination for skiers and visitors drawn to the American West, Betty Woolsey was looking for somewhere quieter. An accomplished skier and mountaineer, she had competed internationally, climbed in the European Alps and travelled through remote mountain countries. Yet the place she chose to settle was a stretch of Wyoming land near Wilson, where she could ski uncrowded slopes, ride into the wilderness and build a working ranch. Woolsey began acquiring land for Trail Creek Ranch in the early 1940s, eventually making it her permanent home. By the time she died in 1997, aged 88, the property had become more than a ranch. About 270 acres were protected under a conservation easement.Betty Woolsey’s early life and mountaineering adventures in Europe and North AmericaWoolsey was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on 28 December 1908. Her father worked for the US Forest Service, and her early childhood included life in a log house overlooking the Sandia Mountains. The landscape left a lasting impression. After the family moved to New Haven, Connecticut, with five daughters, Woolsey went on to graduate from Vassar College.Her ...