BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Wood River Land Trust is seeking donations to protect a new preserve in Croy Canyon as an expansion of the Hailey Greenway.
The 118-acre Simons/Bauer Preserve, as it’s been named, is nestled along a mile-long stretch of Croy Creek underneath Della Mountain and across Croy Creek Road from Carbonate Mountain.
- The proposed preserve would connect the Draper Wood River Preserve with the new Mountain Humane campus, providing opportunities for new trails.
- It also would preserve important habitat for wildlife and extensive wetlands, including a mile-long section of Croy Creek that feeds into the Big Wood River.
The property contains one of the rarest and most important habitats in the arid west. Fed by groundwater springs, it provides habitat for elk, waterfowl, song birds, beavers and amphibious and fish species. It’s also an important migration corridor for elk and deer traveling south in the fall and the north in the spring.
- Finally, it would give the Land Trust and other organizations the opportunity to restore the natural function of the Big Wood River, which has straightened over the years and disconnected from its floodplain at the old city dump--now Lions Park.
If the Land Trust can acquire the land, it will work with the Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Hailey and Blaine County to remove old fill material under Lions Park so the river can flood the Croy Creek wetlands as it did in the past.
“We know that this is the best chance to deal with the cause of the destructive flooding downstream in the Della View neighborhood,” said Scott Boettger, executive director for the Land Trust.
The acquisition would bring the Hailey Greenway to 468 acres making it one of the most expansive protected area for wildlife and community access in the valley. The Greenway currently boasts 350 acres along three miles of the Big Wood River, providing a riverfront park for Hailey.
The Land Trust has protected more than 20,000 acres and 14 open preserves since 1994.
To learn more, visit www.woodriverlandtrust.org.