Guardian angel of SNRA
Sawtooth Society approaches fifth year
"They’ve been a real asset in lobbying to get us
funds. They’ve been a valuable resource, and we’re glad to have
them."
Sawtooth National Forest supervisor Bill LeVere
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
The Sawtooth Society was founded in August 1997 to help
watch over Idaho’s crown jewel, the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
The nonprofit organization has been looking over the U.S. Forest Service’s
shoulder ever since.
Bob Hayes, executive director of the
Sawtooth Society, explains the significance of the society’s
contributions to the SNRA.
The Sawtooth Society was founded by Bethine Church, widow
of Sen. Frank Church who spearheaded the effort to create the Sawtooth
National Recreation Area (SNRA) in 1972.
The society, said executive director Bob Hayes, has a
unique relationship with the Forest Service, which oversees management of
the SNRA.
"We don’t try to replace the Forest Service or
federal funding," Hayes said during a recent ski into the Redfish
Lake area. "We simply recognize [that federal funding] is
insufficient to maintain this area the way it needs to be
maintained."
Sawtooth National Forest supervisor Bill LeVere said the
Forest Service’s relationship with the Sawtooth Society is a "great
partnership."
"They’ve been a real asset in lobbying to get us
funds. They’ve been a valuable resource, and we’re glad to have
them."
Now, nearing the end of its fourth year, the society has
helped fund more than a dozen key recreation projects as well as helped
orchestrate purchases of key conservation easements.
The society has 1,300 members from 22 states and is
operating on a $250,000 budget this year. Four years ago, the society
operated on a budget of less than $50,000.
Hayes said the SNRA needs "an effective citizens’
advocacy group."
"It’ll do what the Forest Service can’t do by
itself."
The society has a three-fold mission: make known threats
to the SNRA, preserve open space and enhance recreational facilities and
services.
"We’ve managed, and we’ll continue to manage to
do, what we set out to do," Church recently told a reporter.
The second goal—preservation of open space—is
something Hayes said will eventually be completed throughout the SNRA.
When established, the 756,000-acre SNRA included about
25,000 acres of private land. Early efforts by the Forest Service secured
conservation easements on about 90 percent of that, involving 78 property
owners.
Since then, easements on seven additional properties have
been acquired. Easements on another 11 properties, amounting to about 800
highly visible acres, remain to be secured, said Hayes. He expects that to
take three to five years.
"At some point, I’m confident we’ll be able to
declare victory in regard to open space."
The Sawtooth Society doesn’t purchase easements, nor
does it donate money to the Forest Service for the purchase of easements.
Rather, it lobbies for funds from Congress and works to
facilitate negotiations between the Forest Service and property owners.
The society helped resolve stalled easement negotiations
between the Forest Service and a Challis ranching family, the Pivas, last
year. The Pivas eventually agreed to accept $2.3 million from the Forest
Service to halt their plans for a subdivision near Stanley.
Other challenges facing the society will be ongoing,
however.
Over the years, SNRA funding has dropped while visitor use
has increased. That has resulted in a $2 million maintenance backlog.
During the ski tour of the Redfish Lake area, Hayes
pointed to several projects that have been funded, or will be funded, at
least in part, by the Sawtooth Society.
The Redfish Lake amphitheater, which is near the visitors’
center, is undergoing $20,000 in renovations this spring. The $20,000 was
the result of a grant to the society.
"Like a lot of things here, local funding has just
not kept up with the maintenance needs," Hayes said. "We just
need to pick up the slack."
The amphitheater, home to summer interpretive programs,
will receive new seating and updated lighting and sound equipment.
Another potential destination of Sawtooth Society funds
are renovations to the visitors’ center, Hayes said. So far, that
potential project has only been discussed.
Hayes also pointed to a rerouted section of trail that was
the result, in part, of funding from the society. In three years, the
society has donated $32,000 to the SNRA for trail work in the White Cloud
and Sawtooth Mountains.
