BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Wood River Land Trust’s acquisition of the 2,700-acre Hailey Hot Springs Ranch is nearing its goal. And you can help push it over the finish line by buying a glass of lemonade and, maybe, some homemade baked goods this weekend.
The Wood River Land Trust has raised 95 percent of the $16 million it needs by Dec. 31 to purchase the popular hiking area and wildlife area in Croy Canyon west of Hailey. It needs just $680,000 more.
A group of donors will match every gift given between now and Nov. 15, meaning all gifts will be doubled during that time.
And second-grade twins Sawyer and Jasper Riccardi are doing their darn best to help pitch in. They’ve already raised more than $300 selling lemonade and homemade treats. And they’ll set up their lemonade stand in front of Iconoclast Books in Hailey from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, hoping to add to that amount.
The boys said they go to the area frequently and ses all kinds of cool stuff like Mormon crickets.
“So, we wanted to save it,” they said in a video filmed by the Wood River Land Trust.
We saw a big “For Sale” sign and wondered who was going to buy it, they added. When they learned of the Wood River Land Trust’s efforts they made “a giant little group” with friends and decide to pitch in.
“We’re so close to the goal. We haven’t wanted to count our chickens before they hatch, but it feels good that so many people consider this a special place,” said Amy Trujillo, executive director of the Wood River Land Trust.
Donations have come from several organizations, including the Wood River Women’s Foundation, 100 Men Who Care and The Nature Conservancy, which lost a federal grant it had earmarked for the project but was able to rebound with a $1-million-plus gift from donations.
And Trujilo will go before the Hailey Rotary Club next week to accept a donation.
Several families have pooled donations in honor of loved ones who passed away this past year. And a longtime volunteer and his wife made a significant gift, then decided to give yet more during the wife’s final days.
“It’s a testament to what this place means to so many,” said Trujilo. “So many people and groups coming together. This is one of those moments our valley will remember for generations.”
The ranch, also known as the Democrat Hot Springs Ranch, lies just to the west of Mountain Humane in Croy Canyon. It was developed in the early 1880s as Idaho’s first summer resort, its hotel boasting a pavilion, ballroom, bath houses and three lakes for swimming and boating.
Acquisition by the WRLT ensures public access to hiking and biking trails that have been threatened in the past and create an uninterrupted 6.6 miles of continuous trails expanding the Hailey Greenway from Colorado Gulch to the saddle of Democrat Gulch.
It also preserves wildlands for sage grouse, sandhill crane, elk, mule deer and pronghorn.
Out buildings could be used for classrooms for afterschool programs, summer camps and researchers from the nearby Rinker Rock Creek Ranch. And Mark Davidson, executive director of the Blaine County Recreation District, has said the acquisition would allow BCRD to build a safe biking trail to the bike park further out Croy Canyon, in addition to providing public access to the hot springs.
“Together, we can create a living legacy — a permanent, protected landscape that reflects the heart and spirit of this community,” said Trujillo.
Those who would like to watch the lemonade kids, can do so at https://vimeo.com/1127328131?blm_aid=35372. To donate to the Wood River Land Trust, go to https://www.woodriverlandtrust.org/ways-to-give. Call 208-788-3947 to learn more or to visit the Hailey Hot Springs Ranch.