The place has many names. Some call it Hammer Flat. One real estate developer tried to call it "The Cliffs." Some simply refer to it as The Plateau. The Ada County government tried to pretends it diddn't exist, at least as far as records of related deliberations are concerned.

From this plateau, you can see Boise, and Idaho’s State Capitol building 10 miles to the northwest. To the South West, you can see steam rising from the stacks of the Micron Technology microchip manufacturing plant. It has that in common with much of Boise Valley. What is not common is, compared to the rest of the Boise River Valley, indeed compared to the rest of the state and nation, is the wildlife density.

One afternoon in the late winter of 2003, from a stance overlooking the plateau, the author counted over 900 head of deer, 90 head of elk, 25 antelope, a couple of coyote, a few wild turkeys, several coveys of quail and chukar, and 5 bald eagles. Sightings by others of wolves are rumored, visits by cougar and bear are fact. The accompanying photographs only hint at the awe visitors feel when viewing the scene in person.

When the neighboring state of Wyoming contemplated a piece of land with similar attributes, they turned it into a tourist attraction. Now known as the National Elk Refuge it helps bring millions of dollars of tourist income into the Jackson area year after year.

Idaho residents pride themselves on their intelligence. However, where the town of Jackson saw an unending series of golden eggs, a real estate developer contemplated the prospect of dining on a golden goose.

The Plateau and its wildlife still exist.

A developer did his best to turn The Plateau into a subdivision. Surveyors drove their stakes. Preliminary plats were drawn, and secret discussions between Ada County Officials and developers were held. The public was excluded. Even other local governmental agencies, such as the City of Boise were excluded. An application was filed, approved, and appealed. The development had everything it needed except one thing, an entry road.

There were plenty of social, political and economic reasons why the subdivision should not have gone forward, such as disregard for the concept of the foothills ordinance, additional urban sprawl, perhaps 10,000 more cars per day on the already overburdened historic Warm Springs Avenue, difficulties with fire protection, a stunning drain on the area’s water supply, minimal provision for basic retail services, the list goes on.

At the end of the day, the true measure of a society is often measured not by what it builds, but rather by what it preserves. In a State and a City that waste no opportunity to extol their quality of life and the access to the outdoors, and in a County whose seal is a Bald Eagle soaring over a body of water, it seems careless, perhaps even absurd, to put housing developments in areas that eliminate major Bald Eagle hunting areas and severely impact large numbers of big game and other species.

There were dozens, perhaps hundreds of other locations in the valley where subdivisions could have been sited that made more economic sense and had little or no adverse environmental impact. Conversely, there may have been nowhere else in the valley, perhaps nowhere else in the state, where a single subdivision’s negative impact on wildlife and the environment would have been more severe.

The Hammer Flats plateau was a terrible place for a subdivision.

Fortunately, that is all in the past. Hammer Flat is now public property and will be managed by Idaho Department of Fish and Game as part of the Boise River Wildlife Management Area.

It was a struggle that was more than 40 years in the making. The final moves on the part of the county and the developer are a black spot on the history of the area fully consistent with the manner in which the area was stolen from the natives in the 1860s.

The people of the Boise, the Treasure Valley, and Idaho should be proud that the area is now protected. SaveThePlateau.org is proud to have been a part of protecting this vital asset.

Regards,
SaveThePlateau.org