By Steve Stuebner
Writer and Producer
Life on the Range
The South Fork of the Boise River is a scenic and popular place to go fishing, camping, and whitewater rafting.
It’s got a blue-ribbon rainbow trout fishery, lots of camp sites, and a challenging whitewater canyon.
With a steady stream of new people moving into the greater Boise area, public use is increasing in the South Fork recreation corridor, a 10-mile reach with road access from Anderson Ranch Dam to the Danskin boat ramp.
“The South Fork of the Boise is a great resource,” says Michael Gibson, Idaho field coordinator for Trout Unlimited. “It’s only an hour away from a population that’s growing very fast. So there’s a lot of people up here, especially on weekends.
“It’s a remote experience, but it’s heavily used, so when you come here, you need to have that mindset, you’re going to come across a lot of people, you just need to be polite and do your thing.”
Along with that increased use comes an uptick in bad behavior – issues that can be hopefully avoided with better planning, preparation and education.
“When you’ve got a lot of use and people, we’re also seeing more trash, we’re seeing a lot more human waste out in the woods,” says Kristyn Stauber, recreation management specialist for the Boise National Forest.
People should come prepared to Pack out what they Pack In for their camping trip.
“We always recommend pack it in, pack it out. We don’t have trash cans or dumpsters at these facilities, so packing it in, and packing it out is very important,” Stauber says.
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