STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

A raptor flew overhead as a dozen people walked across wooden planks above a small creek bursting with the fresh green colors of newly emerging spring plants.

They circled around a small hot springs pool, considering what the property might have looked like nearly 150 years ago and envisioning what it could look like in a few short years.

“We’ve been wanting to conserve this area for 30 years,” Amy Trujillo, executive director of the Wood River Land Trust told the group as they gazed around the Hailey Hot Springs Ranch. “We’ve had multiple attempts; now we have the chance to do so.”

The Wood River Land Trust was given the opportunity to purchase 2,400 acres of property in Democrat Gulch a few miles west of Hailey last fall. The Land Trust raised the $1.2 million it needed for a down payment in a month and a half. Now, it’s just shy of the $16 million it needs to purchase the property by the deadline of Dec. 31, 2025.

Fifteen million dollars of that is to acquire the property; the other million dollars is for long-term stewardship of the property.

The Land Trust received donations from people in the Land Trust’s data base that have never given before during the Idaho Gives campaign last week, Trujillo said. It didn’t hurt that they had a $100,000 match available.

“We’re making a lot of progress, but we haven’t bought it yet. We have until the end of the year,” she added.

Hailey Hot Springs was Idaho’s first summer resort, the Land Trust’s Caroline Hughes told the group. The Wood River Valley boomed in the early 1880s after galena ore was discovered, and the valley produced more of that lead silver ore than any other place in the country.

Entrepreneur Robert Strahorn piggybacked on the miners’ success, building a $150,000 hotel and resort that was acknowledged as one of the most beautiful hotels between Denver and the Pacific Ocean.

“The Alturas Hotel in Hailey was even heated by water from the hot springs here,” said Hughes.

Unfortunately, the hotel burned down and was never replaced. And only remnants of the Democrat Gulch Mine sit at the head of Democrat Gulch up a county road. The road becomes impassable to all but ATVs as it narrows between rock outcroppings just past a small waterfall.

The real value of the land today, Trujillo said, is in the habitat it provides for wildlife, including pronghorn, mule deer and sage grouse, and in the recreational opportunities it offers for hikers and mountain bikers.

If the Land Trust is successful in conserving it for future generations, the Blaine County Recreation District has talked of reconfiguring the hot springs area, which emerges from the ground at 130 degrees, to make it accessible to the public.

“We’d be opening the hot springs up to the community after a hundred years of it being in private hands,” said Trujillo.

Organizations like the Environmental Resource Center, Wood River YMCA and Flourish Foundation would like to bring children to the area for activities teaching children about the environment.

And the University of Idaho, which conducts research on the nearby Rinker Rock Creek Ranch, would like to expand its studies to the Hailey Hot Springs Ranch.

In the past, some owners have closed access to the recreation in the area, Trujillo said. And  300 acres of it could be zoned for housing if the Land Trust isn’t able to purchase it.

The current owners want to sell the land to fund two of their pet charities.

The Land Trust wouldn’t build any more hiking trails on the land so as not to infringe on land used by wildlife, Trujillo said. But the popular Lamb’s Gulch Trail would remain open, as would the Connector Trail to the Two Dog Trail that begins near Rotarun Ski Area.

Democrat Gulch Road would remain open to motorized vehicles as it’s a county road.

Acquisition of the property would allow the BCRD to build a separated bike path along Croy Creek Road, getting the many bicyclists who use the road away from cars and trucks that zoom by at 45 miles per hour.

“It would give us 2,400 acres contiguous to the Hailey Greenway with a trail from Colorado Gulch to the end that would be six miles,” Trujillo said.

Asked whether there’s been talk about using the area for affordable housing, Trujillo replied that the any development on the property would not be affordable housing. The new draft comprehensive plan for the City of Hailey encourages the area to be conserved, she added, and the area is surrounded by public lands so it would not be the best most suitable area for development.

“It has everything we look for in conservation,” she said.

Roland Wolfrom agreed: “It’s a wonderful opportunity for the wildlife and the community.”

Want to see it for yourself?

The Wood River Land Trust has scheduled three additional site visits, complete with lemonade and cookies. The May 14 tour is full, but there are still openings for May 27 and June 11.

To reserve your space, email caroline@woodriverlandtrust.org.

To learn more, visit https://www.woodriverlandtrust.org/