Wood River Valley

This is just about the worst drought that’s ever been recorded in the Wood River Valley, and it’s been going on for a little more than two years. Streamflow and precipitation in the Big Wood, Little Wood and Big Lost Rivers could set record lows.

A fire that began just east of Hailey shortly after 9:30 p.m. Thursday night, amid a thunder and lightning storm, forced some residents to evacuate.

The cities of Ketchum and Hailey in the Wood River Valley passed ordinances earlier this summer allowing local workers to park recreational vehicles on private property. But the new policy aimed at increasing affordable living options is not gaining much traction.

A new deal between groundwater users and surface water users will allow irrigation to continue in the Bellevue Triangle through August 15.

A pilot project for a new public bus route in south central Idaho just received more funding, allowing it to continue into next year.

The Wood River Wolf Project is a well-known project that uses non-lethal methods to prevent livestock depredations. But it's an outlier in Idaho, which has favored greatly expanding hunting and trapping opportunities to decrease depredations.

Farmers who irrigate their crops with groundwater in a region of south central Idaho will need to turn off their water this week, according to an order from Idaho’s Department of Water Resources.

For the first time, the Wood River Valley is in the most severe drought category of the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Some farmers in the Wood River Valley could have their water shut off this summer in the middle of their growing season. Ongoing extreme drought conditions and long-standing water rights disputes are to blame.

As people flocked to mountain towns like Sun Valley during the pandemic, local tourism and economic development leaders wondered who these newcomers were, where they were coming from and whether they’d stay.