Boise, ID – Boise’s city council Tuesday votes on whether to sell a piece of land called Hammer Flat to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The agency’s Deputy Director Jim Unsworth says the 700 acres that make up Hammer Flat are critical to South West Idaho’s mule deer, pronghorn and elk.
Jim Unsworth “Hammer Flats is kind of the lowest elevation foothill area where animals will come in real critical winters.”
The city of Boise bought Hammer Flat for more than four million dollars last year. The move drained the levy fund voters created ten years ago to preserve open space in the foothills. Now the city wants to replenish the fund to continue its conservation efforts by selling Hammer Flat. Lauren McLean headed up the foothills levy campaign back in 2001. She’s now a city councilor. She tells Adam Cotterell that selling Hammer Flat meets the levy’s goals.