Grover Park This Fall: Smoke Up Willow Creek and a Plan Still on Paper

"It's one of those things, be careful what you wish for," Brett Story said about Grover Park in January, "because we could suddenly have thousands of people come all the time and then it would get overused and potentially damaged."

Story directs the Greys River Collaborative, a local group that brings Bridger-Teton National Forest staff and local government leaders together on forest projects. When the Star Valley Independent asked him where the group's master planning would start, he named the stretch of forest above Grover. His reason had nothing to do with the park being neglected. He chose it because, in his words, "it gets a lot of use now, and there's a lot of people with a lot of good ideas of how it could be used better."

October is a good month to see what he meant. Fire crews, hunters, hikers and drivers on the Grover-Turnerville Road are all using the same ground right now. Any plan for the park will have to sort out those overlapping uses.

Why the Park Went First

The road through Grover Park links Grover and Turnerville. A 2017 Star Valley Independent report called it the Grover-Turnerville Road. The onX trail map lists the route at about 4.2 miles of full-width road with camping spurs off the main line. It rates summer and fall as the best seasons and warns about washboards and potholes. That mileage comes from a mapping app, not a Forest Service measurement, but anyone who drives it after a dry September will recognize the washboard.

In a January radio interview, Story said "people come all four seasons to Grover Park," and he mentioned the traffic: "as you know there's some traffic through there." He also said the plan would reach out first to "those that have been here for a long time, those that live near it." In practice, that means the outreach for this plan starts with Grover.

The Ground East of Turnerville Is on the Burn List

On Sept. 23, the West Zone of the Bridger-Teton, which covers the Greys River and Kemmerer Ranger Districts, announced prescribed burns that could start as early as Oct. 1 and run through Dec. 31, conditions allowing. The closest one to Grover Park is broadcast burning in the Star Valley Front Rx Project, Unit 8, about three miles east of Turnerville.

The notice lists the unit's boundaries by name, and they match drainages anyone who hikes above Grover will know:

The same notice includes Unit 9, about three miles up the Strawberry Creek Trail and five miles east of Bedford. It also lists 489 acres of pile burning along Highway 89 from Salt Pass to the forest boundary. The Forest Service says these burns are meant to reduce hazardous fuels and wildfire risk, improve habitat, and restore fire-adapted ecosystems.

As of the Sept. 23 notice, no closures were planned. The agency asks visitors to watch for warning signs along roads near burn areas. It also says plainly, "Please do not report these fires," since firefighters stay on scene through ignition and patrol afterward. Crews check conditions in the days and hours before each burn, notify county emergency management first, and may postpone or cancel if the weather turns. So a column of smoke over the Willow Creek country this fall is most likely planned, though exact dates are up to the weather. If you're heading up, check current Forest Service alerts first.

This matters for the master plan. In January, Story said the first stage of carrying out any plan would be to "prepare the forest," and he pointed to work already underway: "like we're doing now with a small roadside treatment to get it cleaned up." The prescribed burns are a separate Forest Service program. Still, together with that roadside work, they show that the forest around Grover Park is being managed actively while the plan is still on paper.

Campfires Are Back, on a Grate

The burn season comes after fire restrictions ended. Bridger-Teton lifted its restrictions on Sept. 1, and Lincoln County rescinded its Stage One open-burning and fireworks restrictions effective Sept. 15. One rule still applies: campfires on the forest are limited to designated metal fire grates. Teton Interagency Dispatch still rated Bridger fire danger "Moderate" in its Oct. 4 update. On a dispersed camping spur, that means a fire is fine where a grate is installed and not fine where there isn't one.

The grate rule also helps explain why ideas like horse camping keep coming up in the planning talks. Dispersed sites spread along a road are easy to use and hard to manage. Story said one idea already suggested to the collaborative, which he called "a great idea," is horse camping, "because you know a lot of people come to this area for many events and they need a place to do that." He pictured corrals as one possible later stage, while admitting, "I don't know the topography."

The Trails That Tie Swift Creek to the Park

The Forest Service's trailhead pages show how Grover Park connects to the drainages around it. The North Fork Swift Creek trailhead sits upstream of a footbridge over Swift Creek, and the trail loops back down to Grover Park on White Pine Trail #030. To the north, the North Fork Willow Creek Trailhead is about two miles east of Turnerville on Willow Creek Road #10080. It has a pullout big enough for three to four trailers, and the trail heads north with many creek crossings.

On the burn notice, those are the same two drainages. Swift Creek is Unit 8's southern edge, and North Fork Willow Creek is its northern edge. The White Pine loop and the Willow Creek trailhead border the area scheduled for prescribed fire this fall.

Hunters using these drainages should know that Wyoming Game and Fish's 2026 Green River Region forecast, published Aug. 31, describes the Wyoming Range mule deer herd as recovering from heavy losses in the severe 2022–23 winter. The forecast also warns that missing older age classes may still affect hunters. For details on a specific unit, the hunt-area regulations are the source to check.

For driving, the Forest Service's Motor Vehicle Use Map is the legal record of which roads and trails are open to public motor vehicles. Routes that aren't on it are closed to public motorized use. The current version is on the Bridger-Teton maps and guides page.

What the Master Plan Involves, and Where It Stands

In January, Story laid out the steps in order:

1. Hire a professional planner, funded by a grant Story helped write that he hoped would "go to the National Forest Foundation for funding."
2. Reach out to long-time residents, nearby neighbors, and visitors who come in all four seasons.
3. Narrow the ideas down to what is affordable and fits Forest Service recreation rules.
4. Run the result through review under the National Environmental Policy Act. Story said this is where a proposed horse or bicycle trail gets tested against "the topography," other recreation, and traffic.
5. Carry it out in stages, starting with forest preparation and then individual projects.

Story estimated the whole process "probably takes five years from start to finish." He added that District Ranger Justin Laycock calls a finished master plan "a golden ticket for funding opportunities," because it shows grant makers that the public has been heard.

As of early October, there has been no public announcement of a Grover Park survey, public meeting, grant award, or environmental review notice. The collaborative's later coverage in the Star Valley Independent, including a March 31 interview with Laycock and an April 2 article, covered broader work. The April 2 article reported Story's talks with Lincoln County commissioners and the county chief of staff about a possible Forest Service "master stewardship agreement" for the Greys River and Kemmerer districts. A June 1 interview focused on Story's congressional testimony. The outreach step, which is the one that depends on Grover's input, hasn't been announced yet. The newspaper's Greys River Collaborative tag page is the easiest place to watch for it.

Before the Snow Flies

Winter brings a different group of users to the park. The Star Valley Independent has covered the annual Simplot snowmobile hill climbs at Grover Park, describing a steep, rocky competition hill and a shuttle that carried spectators from Grover up to the park. In February 2022 the paper reported up to 600 RMSHA participants from several states. Wyoming's State Trails program puts the general snowmobile season at "typically mid-December through April 1." Winter route and wildlife closures on the Star Valley Front have varied over the years, so check the current Motor Vehicle Use Map and the Greys River Ranger District for this season's rules.

Grover Park is the same 4.2 miles of road in every season. Between October and April, it is used for prescribed fire, hunting, fall camping, and a snowmobile hill climb that draws riders from other states. The master plan will be built from those uses, starting with input from the people who live nearest the park.

If you live near the Grover-Turnerville Road and want help figuring out how a plan like this could affect your property, or you'd just like to talk about the park, Patty Speakman and the team in Thayne are glad to sit down with you and share what we know.