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The 1,106-acre parcel on the shore of Phelps Lake is the last part of the JY Ranch that the Rockefellers haven't already donated to the park over the years. The family quietly donated the final portion in November but will commemorate the gift
-- and the opening of a visitor center -- with a private event for 170 guests on Saturday.
"They don't want to publicize the fact that they're doing it; they just want to do it," Grand Teton spokesman Roger Scott said Tuesday.
The land is known as the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve and has been open to the public since November.
The family built a 7,500-square-foot visitor center with green technology including composting toilets and solar power.
Park officials said they didn't know how much the Rockefellers spent on the visitor center, but they estimate the land is worth $160 million and at that price ranks among the most valuable gifts in park system history.
John D. Rockefeller Jr. bought large portions of Jackson Hole in the 1920s and 1930s and donated 35,000 acres as Grand Teton took shape. The park was established in its current form in 1950.
[Associated
Press; By MEAD GRUVER]
Copyright 2008 The Associated
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