As we're waist-deep in the season for giving, it’s difficult not to consider what’s about to happen near one of Idaho’s most beloved outdoor destinations as anything but a holiday keepsake for the ages.
“It’s coming at the right time. Yes, it’s a gift,” said Craig Utter, executive director of the Payette Land Trust. “And we’re thankful to everyone involved.”
It begins with a $300,000 grant from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, through Governor Brad Little’s Idaho Outdoor Recreation Advisory Council (ORFAC). But that’s just the beginning. The grant will allow the land trust to purchase a permanent trail easement from the Idaho Department of Lands, and that trail – quite unofficial up until now – has linked generations of Idahoans into Ponderosa State Park.
“The area we’re talking about is between Pilgrim’s Cove and Lick Creek, just east of [McCall]. I think a lot of people might recognize it as Standish Road,” said Utter. “It has been an area that has been known as a way to get into the park without having to go through the main entrance.”
But purchasing the trail isn’t anywhere near a simple process. The state’s endowment has very specific standards, including the fact that the land must be purchased. So, the grant will do just that. But there’s an extra holiday bonus: because the money will go to the land trust, those funds will ultimately benefit some of Idaho’s neediest beneficiaries, including public schools.
“All of the people who support us … well, yes, it’s a gift,” said Utter. “We exist because people support us.”
Utter joined Morning Edition host George Prentice to reveal the holiday surprise and detail how the Land Trust used a very particular template to make it all happen.
“What this means is that this access will be in perpetuity. It will always exist, no matter what happens to that land in the future.”

Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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