River greenway project gains momentum
Public access and wildlife habitat would benefit
"Anywhere we can restore wetland and riparian habitat, we’re
totally in support of that. If you don’t protect it now, you’re not going to
have it."
Robert Flowers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project
manager
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
Since Wood River Land Trust (WRLT) executive director Scott Boettger moved
to the Wood River Valley in 1997, he’s been eyeing the stretch of the Big Wood River
between Hailey and Bellevue as a potential "greenway" for environmental
preservation and public access.
The
Wood River Land Trust’s greenway project would ultimately link Hop Porter Park to
Bellevue. Pending projects include ones near Lion’s and Heagle parks.
There are many pieces to the greenway puzzle, but some have begun to fall
in place.
Valley residents venturing to a stretch of the Big Wood River south of
Bullion Street in Hailey could soon find it restored a little closer to its original
state.
The Wood River Land Trust in cooperation with the city of Hailey, is
working to preserve a river-front "greenway" from Hop Porter Park on the north
to near Bellevue on the south. The concept of the perhaps four-mile-long greenway is to
maintain a public corridor along the river as well as to protect and restore
environmentally sensitive riparian attributes.
Preservation efforts will include restoration of land that is already
publicly owned and acquisition, through title or preservation easements, of several
private parcels.
The immediate riparian restoration projects include sections from
Lion’s Park on the north to Heagle Park on the south.
"Anywhere we can restore wetland and riparian habitat, we’re
totally in support of that," U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager Robert
Flowers said during a tour of the pending project sites Friday. "If you don’t
protect it now, you’re not going to have it."
WRLT executive director Scott Boettger hosted the Friday tour for agency
personnel who will be responsible for approving the work.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Idaho Department of Water Resources,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Trout Unlimited officials said they liked the project
conceptually. Details will have to be hammered out later, they said.
Two phases will embody the project. One phase would consist of grading the
stream bank on the west side of the river, in Lion’s Park, and perhaps adding weirs
in the river to slow stream flows and create fish habitat.
Over 5,000 cubic yards of material would be removed from the Lion’s
Park stream bank, tapering it 80 to 90 feet from the river bank. All existing vegetation
would be preserved and more would be planted.
The second phase would involve construction of a holding pond just south
of Heagle Park, partially on the site of the old Riverside sewage treatment plant. The
approximately one-acre pond would help to slow the river’s flow, help the river drop
debris it carries during high flows and create a riparian area in and around the pond. The
holding pond would function similarly to the Hulen Meadows pond north of Ketchum.
Together, both phases would cost approximately $500,000, which would be
raised from grants and private fundraising, Boettger said.
The river originally meandered through the corridor, but was channeled
using a berm on the east side of the river to protect property investments in the early
1900s, Boettger said. The city of Hailey has used Lion’s Park as a fill area for
debris from construction sites, further channeling the river.
"We obviously can’t take the berms out and put the meanders back
in," Boettger said, "but we want to get it as natural as possible."
The projects should be handled carefully, said Bruce Lium, river bank and
riparian systems restoration specialist for American Water Resources, a consulting
company.
"The river channel is so delicate and so dynamic that we have to be
very careful what we do with it," he said. "Delicate touches are important here
rather than major changes."
Boettger agreed.
"The strengths aren’t in the parts but the total," he said.
If all the pieces fall into place, the project could get off the ground
next fall, Boettger said. Hailey’s approval will be sought in January, and agency
permit approval from the several federal and state agencies involved could be in by March.
If fundraising comes through, work could begin during autumn’s low water.
Acquisition of needed private parcels was given a boost last week when
Ernie Gore and Cheri Ashworth, developers of a nearby subdivision, donated a 2.2-acre
parcel of riparian property to the WRLT. The property is being called the Cedar Bend
Donation.
The property provides mature cottonwood wetland habitat, mitigates
downstream flooding and provides and important fishing access in the heart of Hailey,
Boettger said.
A privately-owned property across the river from Lion’s Park is also
a missing piece of the puzzle. Boettger said efforts are ongoing to arrange an outright
purchase or easement purchase on the property.
Privately owned land south of Heagle Park is also missing from the puzzle
as well as three small lots near the Cedar Bend Donation.
"Obviously, to do these things, you just do them a piece at a
time," Boettger said.
