The Forest Service purchased 80 acres of private land last month along the Salmon River, in an effort to protect wilderness.
The Trust for Public Lands, a national nonprofit organization, helped the Forest Service acquire that land last month.
Northern Rockies Director for the Trust Deb Love says it’s important to buy up private land and protect it as wilderness. She says doing so helps the Forest Service manage the land without worrying about pockets of private property.
"It’s like having a beautiful quilt and a bunch of holes in that quilt and not sewing up those holes. So our job is to help ensure that that beautiful tapestry, that beautiful quilt remains intact for the next generation," Love says.
The land cost $570,000, with the funds coming from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
It will be managed by the Forest Service as wilderness, allowing recreation, but no development or logging.
"If you’re a rafter, you’re not going to notice a difference from these 80 acres going into Forest Service ownership, but you sure would notice if somebody put a house there," Love says.
The land is downstream of the popular rafter put-in, Boundary Creek, 35 miles from Stanley.
The Trust for Public Lands has helped put 60,000 acres of Idaho land into public hands over the last 20 years.
Copyright 2012 Boise State Public Radio