Want to know where you are on a trail? How many fireplaces your neighbor has? Or where to buy a lot likely to provide good solar energy for your home?

You can find the answers to these questions and many more, thanks to Sam Young, GIS specialist for the City of Ketchum.

Young works one day a week for Ketchum, another day for the City of Sun Valley and the rest of the week for Blaine County. He's also developed an iPhone app that allows people to find their locations on trails without needing a separate GPS.

GIS stands for geographic information systems, and is a relatively new field. It provides visual information answers to questions ranging from which properties are most suitable for producing solar energy to where vacant two-acre lots are located. Because it is digital, information can be retrieved quickly, Young said.

For example, you can enter information in Parcel Data Search and find the name of the property owner, the names and addresses of owners of property within 300 feet, a sketch of the lot and nearby lots, the assessed value, the zoning, whether it is in a floodplain or avalanche zone, the property taxes assessed and information about the building ranging from the number of square feet to the number of bathrooms and fireplaces. Or, go directly to the Ketchum GIS map. Similar maps exist for Sun Valley and Blaine County.

It's clear that Young loves his work, since he's spent most of his spare time over the past year developing the iPhone trail app. It's popular with hikers, bicyclists and horseback riders and covers trails from Bellevue north to Galena Pass and over Trail Creek summit to Kane Lake.

The app can be purchased on the web or in the Apple app store under the name "Sun Valley Trails" for 99 cents. A second app covering the Stanley area also is available. 

The City of Ketchum is co-sponsoring a water conservation series, beginning May 15, on designing and maintaining landscapes that save water, time and money.

 

Other sponsors of the free programs are the City of Hailey and the Wood River Land Trust Trout Friendly Lawns program.

 

The first program will be Thursday, May 15, from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Wood River Land Trust office at 119 E. Bullion St., Hailey. The topic will be "How to Convert to a Drought-Tolerant Lawn Using Seed or Sod."

 

"Native plants provide a beautiful, hardy, drought-resistant, low-maintenance landscape while benefiting the environment," according to Robyn Mattison, Ketchum public works director/city engineer.

 

"Native plants, once established, save time and money by eliminating or significantly reducing the need for fertilizers, pesticides, water and lawn maintenance equipment," she said.

 

Subsequent programs include home tours with attractive xeriscape or naturalized landscaping. Landscape designers or architects will be there to discuss native design elements. Home tours will be held from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 28, and Thursday, June 12, at homes in Hailey. The program in Ketchum will be held on Tuesday, June 24, at 600 Northwood Way.

 

For additional information, contact the Wood River Land Trust at 788-3947. Information is also available on the City website or by clicking here.

 Dani Mazzota from the Idaho Conservation League will speak to the Ketchum City Council at the meeting on Monday, May 5, on how and why national monuments are established and what this could mean for the future of the Boulder-White Cloud mountains. She will discuss recent and ongoing collaborative efforts to ensure that if the area is proclaimed a monument, it will provide sufficient protections for the wilderness character, clean water, rich wildlife habitat, and the diverse recreational experiences that we all enjoy. The proposal covers 571,000 acres within Highways 75 and 93 and Trail Creek Road.

 

East Fork of the Salmon River               photo by: Ed Cannady

The Boulder-White Clouds are a crown jewel of Central Idaho. It is here where the headwaters of four major river systems originate, unique critters such as bighorn sheep and the elusive wolverine are found, the highest-elevation salmon runs in North America occur and rare plants found nowhere else on earth exist. The Boulder-White Clouds are more than just the impressive 10,000-foot peaks but actually span into rolling sagebrush and sensitive volcanic soils below. Collectively the area represents critically diverse wildlife habitat during both summer and winter.

 

The region is one of the last largest under-protected roadless landscapes in the lower 48 states and supports all types of recreational opportunities. The Boulder-White Clouds are a haven of world-class back country experiences including hunting and fishing, hiking, mountain biking, skiing, horseback riding and off-road motorized use. As a whole, the Boulder-White Clouds are a large connected drainage that delivers clean water to wildlife, fisheries and our communities.

 

For more than 40 years, this area has been recommended for wilderness designation. Decades of collaborative efforts on legislation that would have preserved this area have failed due to idleness in Washington DC. In light of this, a growing number of advocates have stood up in support of using presidential proclamation to proclaim this area a national monument. The goal of a national monument is to keep the Boulder-White Clouds whole and healthy so that future generations can experience the Boulder-White Clouds in largely the same way they are seen today.