Grand Teton National Park officials, who have drawn ire over an annual elk hunt in the park, now are facing criticism for turning over management of wildlife on private inholdings within park boundaries to the state of Wyoming. 

The decision, though, was long in coming, according to park spokesman Andrew White, who said Friday that more went into the decision than what has been before the public.

“It’s a much more complicated issue than what’s really been revealed so far," said White. "We’re working on how we clarify the issue. There’s a lot that’s going on.”

While the park spokesman said the decision has been roughly two years in the making, National Parks Conservation Association officials took strong exception to the move.

"Since the establishment of Grand Teton National Park 66 years ago, the Park Service has been the lead authority in managing all resources within its boundary. However that long-standing practice was turned on its head last week when the NPS Intermountain Office determined that the regulations giving the Park Service lead management authority for wildlife within its boundaries did not apply to Grand Teton National Park," said Sharon Mader, the park advocacy group's senior program manager for the Grand Teton Field Office.

"The National Parks Conservation Association believes the Park Service’s findings — presented in a letter from the NPS Intermountain region to the state — are just plain wrong," she added in an op-ed. "We disagree with the analysis and conclusions reached and urge the Park Service to withdraw its plans to hand over wildlife management authority to the state and urge the Park Service to engage in a public process to sort out this matter."

The NPCA spokeswoman pointed out that, "(A)ccording to the National Park Service’s guiding Code of Federal Regulations (36 CFR 2.2), hunting is prohibited on all lands within park boundaries, regardless of ownership. This regulation applies to all national parks, including Grand Teton. As we understand it, this decision undermines this longstanding regulation. It appears short-sighted and not in the best interests of the park, its wildlife or the visiting public."

Adding to the group's concerns was the behavior of some hunters during the park's annual elk culling in November. During that a number of hunters were cited for hunting violations.

"The Park Service’s recent decision only stands to exacerbate these problems by allowing the state to move forward with an unprecedented hunt on park inholdings, creating an untenable management situation. Before the ink was even dry, the state immediately announced its intention to open up over 100 parcels of land in Grand Teton to a public hunt, including 1,260 acres of state-owned land," wrote Mader. "This is not an issue about whether or not to support or oppose hunting. It’s an issue over who makes the call in wildlife management within our national parks, and the timing of this determination could not have been worse."