Idaho parks hit ‘mind-boggling’ visitation record last year; Boise trails survey opens
Idaho’s state parks saw a record number of visitors in 2020, outpacing the previous record by more than one million guests, according to an Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation news release.
The agency said 7,671,582 people visited Idaho’s 27 parks in 2020, and much of that traffic was a result of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
“It’s a mind-boggling number,” said Brian Beckley, chairman of the Idaho Parks and Recreation Board, in the release. “Never before have we had so many people come out to our parks. But with the pandemic keeping people indoors and isolated, outdoor recreation became one of the few things people could do responsibly to beat COVID cabin fever.”
The department has been breaking its visitation record regularly the past few years — the previous record, set in 2019, was 6.4 million day use visitors — but not by the massive margin in 2020.
Across all park units, visitation increased by about 21% from 2019, according to Parks and Rec figures. Only a few individual units saw a decrease in visitation (among those were Lake Cascade and Three Island Crossing state parks), while others saw massive upticks. Lucky Peak State Park alone hosted more than one million visitors — a record for the Boise-area site, officials said.
Visitation at nearby Eagle Island increased nearly 25%, but the Box Canyon and Niagara Springs units of Thousand Springs State Park experienced the biggest percentage increase, data showed. Each of the Magic Valley units saw a nearly 110% uptick in visitation, with about 75,000 people visiting Box Canyon and 110,000 stopping by Niagara Springs.
“We have an amazing staff that got us through it,” said Gary Shelley, manager of Lucky Peak and Eagle Island state parks, in the news release. “I’m also proud of our visitors and our community for being so generally understanding and cooperative with the need for COVID-19 precautions. It could have gone badly, but they came out, stayed safe and had a good time.”
Camping figures declined slightly from 2019 to just about 650,000 campers for the duration of 2020. However, Parks and Rec officials noted, campsites were closed for about two months to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.
Ridge to Rivers opens trail use survey
Ridge to Rivers, the agency that manages Boise’s Foothills trail system, debuted a new survey on Wednesday that will help decide how trails are used in the future.
Last week, Ridge to Rivers director David Gordon announced in a public Zoom event that the agency was considering trail schedules, directional trails and other measures to deal with a huge surge in trail use. Ridge to Rivers had floated similar proposals in 2016 when developing a 10-year management plan, but users at the time told the agency they didn’t want to see schedules, which would limit use to certain groups — like mountain bikers, hikers or trail runners — on certain days.
Gordon said in the meeting that traffic has doubled or tripled on some trails as Boise’s population grows and the coronavirus pandemic pushes people outside to recreate. Gordon said trail use was already far outpacing the 10-year plan’s predictions.
The online survey, which will remain open for about three weeks, asks respondents how frequently they’re on Ridge to Rivers trails, whether they’d like to see the agency enforce citations for use of muddy trails — overuse in wet conditions has caused enormous damage, Gordon told the Statesman — and whether they support directional or scheduled trail use.
The survey proposes schedules or directional travel on four trails: Lower Hulls Gulch, Polecat Loop, Bucktail and Around the Mountain. It also asks users to suggest other trails where such measures might be successful.
Visit ridgetorivers.org/survey to provide feedback.
More duck carcasses dumped in Treasure Valley, Fish and Game says
Days after announcing that a poacher dumped 34 duck carcasses behind a Boise-area business, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said in a news release that there has been another mass waterfowl poaching in the Treasure Valley.
Officials said more than 25 waterfowl were left off Van Deusen Road, north of Emmett, in recent days. The wasted game included mallards, teal and northern pintails.
Anyone with information on the incident can contact Citizens Against Poaching at 1-800-632-5999 or call Fish and Game’s Nampa office at 208-465-8465.
Soldier Mountain opens new terrain park
Soldier Mountain, the ski area near Fairfield, opened its new terrain park on Thursday, officials said in a news release.
The park features rails, boxes and snow features. Soldier is offering free admission for two weeks, after which users will need to pay $27 to use the park. Those with season passes or lift tickets can use the terrain park at no extra cost.
Soldier, which was damaged by a wildfire last summer shortly after changing ownership, has had terrain parks in the past, but this is the first new construction in recent years, officials said.
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 1:43 PM.
