STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The yellow school bus rumbled up Democrat Gulch Road, turning around a narrow curve high above the green field below and bouncing over bumps and ruts in the dirt road as it passed hillsides blooming with blue penstemon and a creek boasting songbirds.

On board were 26 passengers, some with Rhubarb Ginger Gin Fizz cocktails in hand, peering out the windows at the wild land that the Wood River Land Trust wants to protect into perpetuity.

“I used to mountain bike and hike here all the time when I lived in Hailey,” WRLT board member Trish Klahr told the passengers. “This area has changed hands multiple times—it’s been called the Democrat Ranch, Sweet Potato…We’re calling it the Hailey Hot Springs Ranch in recognition of its history as the Hailey Hot Springs Resort.”

Jane Rosen and Sheila Plowman took advantage of parasols gifted from the Pollock wedding as protection against the 90-degree sun.

The Wood River Land Trust took members of its Richard Carr Society by buses on a safari through the area during its annual dinner Tuesday night at the nearby Mountain Humane. The dinner honoring the late Richard Carr was a thank you to WRLT supporters who fund 80 percent of the Wood River Land Trust’s operations, and it gave them a look at the Land Trust’s latest endeavors.

The WRLT’s campaign to purchase 2,700 acres that serve as home to pronghorn, elk, deer, sage grouse and—this year, a moose and her calf—are something Carr could’ve gotten behind.

The Land Trust has dreamed of preserving the 2,700-acre ranch for 30 years said Klahr. The Land Trust has raised more than $13 million of the $16 million it needs to purchase the land by Dec. 31. A million of that would be used for long-term stewardship.

A resort hotel with plunge baths was built on the site in the late 1800s after miners flocked to the Wood River Valley in search of galena, lead, zinc and silver. Though it was considered one of the premiere resorts of the West, it was never rebuilt after burning down.

Wood River Land Trust Executive Director Amy Trujillo noted that the Wood River Land Trust has protected 30,000 acres in 30 years.

“There’s been a lot of effort to find the hotel foundation, but it’s been difficult, probably because of the agriculture that followed,” Klahr said.

In the past, some owners have closed public access to the land, which includes the popular Lamb’s Gulch hiking and biking trail, which offers copious displays of arrowleaf balsamroot, yellow lupine and even large clumps of peach-colored globe mallow in spring.

“Over the years, there have been four or five proposals for development—the biggest being 160 homes. From this point--two miles from the road--it would be a big undertaking to put infrastructure,” Klahr said, as the bus turned around near a wooded thicket that provides water and a hideaway for wildlife.

“This area offers a combination of recreation and amazing conservation with antelope, sandhill crane—all that,” said Elise Lufkin.

The Lamb’s Gulch hiking trail on the Hailey Hot Springs Ranch property was covered with arrowleaf balsamroot this year before transitioning to bright yellow lupine.

The Blaine County Recreation District has proposed reopening the hot springs to the public on a small scale if the Land Trust can secure the property. The BCRD would also build a separate bike path along Croy Canyon Road to the BMX track on the other side of Rotarun Ski Area.

The house that sits on the property could be used by University of Idaho researchers, as classrooms for ERC and environmental education programs or as housing for a caretaker.

“We don’t want to overdevelop this. We want to fit in with the existing landscape. Nor are we looking to farm the fields forever. Our goal is to reduce water use,” Klahr said.

“Our valley is growing rapidly,” she added. “There are not a lot of unfragmented parcels left. So, to have property that’s connected with public land, to protect this now and save it for future generations as a special place, would be wonderful.”

Kit Wright and Manijeh Brueggeman showed off their umbrella style at the dinner.

Back at the dinner table, the Land Trust’s Board Chair Roland Wolfrom and Executive Director Amy Trujillo noted that the group was gathered in the middle of the Hailey Greenway. The purchase of the Hot Springs Ranch would protect 3,000 acres of contiguous open space and six miles of river and stream.

“The landscape we have here is the reason people flock to this area,” Trujillo said.

The Land Trust hopes to secure another vital piece of property by October, she said.

“And a lot of people don’t know that our river is actually hurting. This year we’re involved in two major river restoration projects—one in Heagle Park in Hailey and the other in Warm Springs in Ketchum. And, while it was hard to see the Rinker Rock Ranch out Croy Canyon burn last summer, it is rebounding.”

While challenges, such as recent proposal to mandate sell-off of public lands, are real, “your support is helping us take care of this land,” she said. “We show up. We become the solution. Everything that we’ve done the last 30 years was because of people like you who looked around and said, ‘This is something special. Let’s protect it.’ The connection between the people who show up is what makes our community so powerful.”

The Hailey Hot Springs project is the biggest the Land Trust has taken on.

“You’re doing what ensures this place stays special for generations to come,” she said.

“There’s no doubt we’re going to get it done. This is a super important project--it’s for you, it’s for the community,” Jeff Seely added.

The quest to save the land appeared to meet with the crowd’s approval.

“Ken and I have spent hours and hours out there for the past 40 years, walking and hiking and cross-country skiing. And it hasn’t changed in all those years because we fought housing being developed there,” said Ginna Lagergren.

“It’s just the most important thing,” said Rachel Schochet. “This is the most beautiful place on the planet—I can’t imagine living anywhere else. And it’s because of the way we’ve preserved land like this.”