Dec 20, 2011

STP Newsletter - Foothills Levy Recharge Edition

At noon today, Boise City Council unanimously voted to sell Hammer Flat to IFG.

With that act, the Foothills Levy will be recharged, with a small profit to boot.  With this infusion of money, the original $10 million levy will have facilitated roughly $16 million in open space acquisition.  How cool is that?

IFG is, without doubt, the logical agency to own and manage Hammer Flat.  Wildlife is what Hammer Flat has been known for since deliberations on the Foothills Policy Plan began more than thirty years ago.  Every one of you who worked to help preserve this property can take pride in knowing that you helped leave a little bit of Idaho intact for your children, and your children's children.

In their arguments, the City Council cided some interest groups for putting their individual desires above the needs of the larger whole.  They also implored IFG to be open minded about the potential for recreational access.  Words to live by.

There is more work to be done to rehab the property and to develop long term management details, but this was the last big political piece that needed to fall into place.

To all of you who played a part in this saga, give yourself a pat on the back.  You might also send a thankyou note to the Mayor Bieter and the Boise City Council thanking them for a job well done.  They deserve it.

Happy Holidays,

Tony Jones

December 14, 2011

STP Supplemental Newsletter

Dear Friends of Hammer Flat and the Boise Foothills,

Boise City Council is scheduled to meet at noon, in City Hall, on December 20, 2011, to vote on whether or not to accept IFG's offer to purchase Hammer Flat for $4.2 million.  

There are lots of red herring in this tale, so a little background may be helpful.  I will endeavor to be brief.

IFG has been interested in purchasing Hammer Flat for at least a decade, maybe more.  In fact, they were in the process of negotiating a purchase agreement when The Cliffs' developer swooped in and purchased the property for a much higher price.  Part of the problem with IFG buying property is that it usually takes six months to a year, often longer, for them to marshal funds.  In the interim, sellers often get bored, and find other buyers.

About a  year ago Hammer Flat came back on the market and IFG was as interested as ever, and as short of cash as ever.  The situation was very fluid.  Time was of the essence.  IFG did not want to see the property slip through their fingers again.  If IFG were to ever get the property they needed a sugar daddy, and quick.  In essence, Boise City agreed use the Foothills Levy to buy Hammer Flat and hold it long enough for IFG to get funds from the Federal Government, funds that the feds have owed the State of Idaho for as much as 70 years.  IFG would then buy Hammer Flat from Boise City and recharge the Foothills Levy

About a month ago, IFG succeeded in getting Bonneville Power Administration, the marketing arm of the Corp of Engineers NW Hydro Projects, to agree to pay the City of Boise for Hammer Flat Wildlife Habitat.   Note the emphasis on Wildlife Habitat.  The money BPA owes Idaho is for habitat that was inundated by their reservoirs.  There is no mechanism in place between Idaho and the Feds for miscellaneous open space and recreation lands.

This is where it gets a little messy.  

During the past year, various interest groups have pressured the City to condition the sale in such a way that they will receive guaranteed access to Hammer Flat.  

It is easy to get sidetracked by the access issue.  After all, EVERYONE wants in.  It is easy to lose ones focus and start arguing about who does and does not have superior "rights" to access Hammer Flat, which group is more deserving, and on and on.  I am not going down that path except to say that that line forms behind the Native Americans, the people from whom the Feds stole Hammer Flat in the 1860s.  So, having recognized the red herring in the room, we can set is aside and get back to the core issues.

1.  If the City votes in favor of the purchase, it will fulfill a handshake agreement between IFG and Boise City dating back about a year and provide rare evidence that governmental agencies can work in unison toward a common goal.  The result will be a recharged Foothill Levy and the immediate chance to buy thousands more acres of open space at depressed prices.

2.  Alternatively, if the city attempts to constrain the use of Hammer Flat in any substantive way for recreation, no matter how well intentioned, it means the City will have reneged on its deal with IFG and runs the risk of voiding BPA's offer.  And, obviously, if the city queers BPA's offer, the Foothills levy doesn't get recharged.  If the levy doesn't get recharged the chance to protect several thousand acres of land in the central and western foothills, areas much closer to the bulk of Boise's population, vanishes in the mist. 

More simply

1.  The city can vote to recharge the levy right now and let the various interest groups fight it out with IFG.  i.e.  They can take the bird in the hand.

2.  Or, the city can try to leverage the deal in an effort to recharge the levy and grant access to Hammer Flat to an interest group, at the risk of never recharging the foothills levy.  i.e. They can try for the two birds in the bush.

To me this decision is beyond easy.  The Feds could not care less about Idaho, and less still about Boise City.  If the city makes it hard for the Feds to give us money, the Feds will keep their money.  The City needs to go with the bird in the hand.  The vote to accept IFG's offer is a no-brainer.

Regards,

Tony Jones

reply to:  tjones@savetheplateau.org

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Postscript:

It never hurts to let the mayor and council know what you think.  Everyone who is interested in getting the levy recharged as soon as possible should foreword the following note to the Mayor's Office and County Chambers.  The email links are included.

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December 14, 2011

Mayor's Office: mayor@cityofboise.org

City Council:  citycouncil@cityofboise.org

Dear Mayor and Council,

Please vote to accept IFG's offer to buy Hammer Flat and recharge the foothills levy as soon as possible.

Regards,

(Your Name)

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Post Postscript

One of the few downsides of being visibly associated with SaveThePlateau.org is occasionally being attacked, orally and otherwise by people with opposing agendas. To date, I been conspired against by county staffers, and commissioners.  Usually it is just irritating. Sometimes it is serious. A real estate developer tried to get me fired on a couple occasions. 

However, sometimes it can be pretty funny. Yesterday, a person, Scott R________n, tried to undermine my credibility. He alleged, based on a picture on the internet, that a dog is harassing deer by barking at them, from inside his kennel, if the deer get too close. Note, we are talking about deer approaching the dog, not the other way around.  Anyway, he linked the dog, by name, to my spouse, and from her to me. He then contacted Fish and Game and requested they do something about it. 

The trouble for Scott, and the thing that makes his attack hilarious, is that the dog has been dead for nearly 7 years. 

Note to Scott - This dog was never much of a barker, but just to be safe I went out to the his grave and issued the "NO BARK" order several times.  I haven't heard a peep since.  He always was and still is a very good dog.

Cheers,

TJ

PREFACE

In the foothills on the east side of Boise, Idaho, sandwiched between the Black Cliffs on the west and the Boise River Wildlife Management Area on the east, (see map below) there is a 700 acre plateau known as Hammer Flat. This plateau provides critical habitat for deer, elk, antelope, eagle, and hundreds of other specie of wildlife. The Hammer Flat plateau forms a substantial portion of the last remaining viable harsh winter habitat for about one third of the 12,000 - 14,000 deer in the Boise Front, the largest mule deer herd in Idaho.

Save the Plateau's founding mission was to promote and coordinate activities designed to maintain and preserve the Hammer Flat Plateau as a viable habitat for deer, elk, eagles, and the variety of other species that inhabit this area in such abundance and rely on it for their winter survival.