Ada County adds 250 acres of open space in the Foothills for hiking, mountain biking
The Ada County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to dedicate nearly 250 acres of county property near the Hidden Springs neighborhood as open space for recreation.
According to the board’s resolution, the 246 acres of land is known as the Red Hawk property and was acquired by the county in 2012 in a foreclosure sale. It contains eight parcels, six of which were dedicated as open space and conservation land.
The area will be open to “passive recreation,” including hiking, trail running, mountain biking and horseback riding. Currently there is one trail in the area: Landslide Loop. Motorized vehicles are not permitted, and dogs are required to be kept on a leash to protect the native plant and animals species inhabiting the area.
Ada County Parks and Waterways director Scott Koberg told the Statesman in an email that the trail was completed in May 2019 and is maintained as part of the Ridge to Rivers system. It’s currently closed until April to protect wintering wildlife.
The area’s role as wintering habitat for deer and elk was part of the reason the county chose to dedicate it as open space, officials said during the Tuesday meeting. It’s the second open space area the commission has dedicated in just over a month — in December, the commission named 35 acres at Barber Pool a conservation site, as well.
“Barber Pool kind of represented one of the more unique and amazing properties that the county owned adjacent to the Boise River, more of a riparian area,” Koberg said during the meeting, “where as this, the Redhawk piece … (is) tremendous lower Foothills sagebrush steppe habitat area.”
The area is just north of Hidden Springs and slightly southeast of the Avimor planned community.
“I’m sure developers would love to get their hands on (this property), but it has a higher and better use, I think, in this situation,” Commissioner Patrick Malloy said during the meeting.
Governor’s salmon recovery work group releases final report, recommendations
Gov. Brad Little’s salmon recovery work group, appointed in April 2019, released its final report and recommendations in late December after 18 months of discussion on tactics to bolster threatened salmon and steelhead.
The group made numerous recommendations, including protection and restoration of habitat, expansion of hatchery projects and close management of harvest policies.
The group also made some recommendations regarding the Lower Snake River Dams, which have been a point of contention for years in the discussion over salmon recovery. The group encouraged changes to infrastructure and spill operations to minimize fish deaths as the fish travel past the structures to return to their spawning grounds.
Many stakeholders support breaching the four dams as a means of restoring salmon populations, while the federal government in 2020 opted to leave the dams standing, prompting lawsuits from environmental groups. Group members said they were unable to reach a broader consensus on the dams.
“The work group encourages the state to engage the federal government, regional congressional delegates, states, tribes, and stakeholders in a process to restore thriving and abundant salmon and steelhead fish stocks for Idaho and for the region,” members wrote in the December report.
The work group also clarified that its recommendations do not constitute a recovery plan but rather suggestions to bolster salmon and steelhead populations. Members advised that more aggressive action and collaboration will be necessary to restore Idaho salmon and steelhead to thriving numbers.
