STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Ketchum resident Penny Coe was aghast as she watched trees being felled and dirt piling up on the Warm Springs Preserve, or what some affectionately call “the dog park.”

Not only was the excavating going on ruining what had been a beautiful park, she said, but she feared that work being done might destabilize the creek, jeopardizing the safety of her home on Baldy View Drive.

There is a whole lot of commotion going on, acknowledged Ketchum Mayor Neil Bradshaw, and it may be jarring to second home owners who returned to the area this summer to find  the work being done.

Workers work from holes during the Warm Springs Preserve restoration project.

But he promised that Warm Springs Preserve and more will be better when the City of Ketchum and Wood River Land Trust are finished.

“Change is hard, and there is a lot of change going on there right now,” he said. “But I promise you that it will be one beautiful park when finished. And we are going to replace the trees that were cut with big beautiful trees.”

Workers on the 65-acre preserve are hopeful that they can get enough donations to build a welcoming center with restrooms this fall, said a WRLT board member.

The work being done in the creek is designed to help restore fish habitat, restore the riparian area and repair the flood plain to help mitigate damage from flooding should Sun Valley have a big snow year and big melt-off next spring.

Homeowners on Baldy View Drive have had had their customary view interrupted by yellow tape and piles of dirt.

It involves constructing eight acres of floodplain habitat, 2,000 feet of side channels, one acre of wildland habitat and putting in 40 large woody debris structures to benefit the trout. It also involves temporarily de-watering Warm Springs Creek to aid in restoration work.

Workers hope to wrap up the bulk of the work this fall.

Work being done on the creek will improve trout habitat and mitigate floods, according to the Wood River Land Trust’s Ryan Santos.