Barber Park Harris Ranch 1975-Present

 Barber Park Harris Ranch 1975-2000

People and nature have been a core concept of what we have been researching and reading about. What is nature in the city, is it the parks scattered across the city, the stream in someone’s backyard, or is it the nature that borders on the outside of the city? These are common themes that we have been observing. Yet for a lot of people who call Idaho home we are blessed with a plethora of opportunity’s to experience nature right in our own back yards. Outside the city we have the Boise foothills which are great for hiking, walking or biking, go a little bit north and you have the Boise forest, yet one part of Boise’s nature that I’m sure many of use are familiar with is the Boise greenbelt. The green belt is a large pathway that stretches from lucky peak all the way to Eagle and it is truly a wonderful resource that we can all experience. Yet the path to completing the greenbelt was not always easy. There where many road blocks and problems with it. You have the animals that call the Boise River there home, and the local foliage that makes construction sometimes a problem. We still found away too make the greenbelt a little more complete and in turn our city as well.

The Boise greenbelt stretches along the Boise River for around 25 miles passing through many of Boise’s parks such as Julia Davis, Ann Morrison, and into Barber Park even the most recently. Barber park is one of the newer areas to receive a official path from the Greenbelt. It was a long time coming because it was meet with a very large government standstill. The local Boise government was short on money and was struggling to bridge the gap between Boise and the Barber Park area. Many locals would soon popularize the barren area as the gap. The greenbelt is a beautiful area along the river full of many beautiful trees such as cottonwoods and willows. Those trees have massive roots that stretch all along the greenbelt. The local fauna that call the greenbelt home include foxes, squirrels, deer and even bald Eagles. Bald Eagles take nest up in Barber Park so the removal of their habitat was meet with much controversy. So even though something as small as putting a path down the river seems so easy the people that where working on it soon realized the endeavor was much more difficult then they could have imagined.

Around the mid to late 1990s the Green belt was under going major construction to move the Boise Greenbelt even farther than what it was. The Greenbelt was to expand into the Barber park area all the way to Lucky Peak. Yet the construction was more difficult than ever thought imagined. Construction was halted due to the removal of the 50 year old Cottonwood trees. In the Idaho Statesman article environmentalist Jeff Cabrera was all for the expansion of the greenbelt but after he saw what construction workers have done to the greenbelt he and many local people where up in arms protesting the expansion. Jeff Cabrera said “ I would enjoy nothing more than the expansion of the Greenbelt, I bike on it almost everyday, but when I see them clear cutting so many trees in the process I cant stand by and watch it.” The protests eventually led to a halt in construction, and the fact that the city of Boise was running out of money to connect the two parts of the city. Yet the local residents of Barber Park where left with a unfinished and very ugly looking part of the Greenbelt. It was Barren and looked like an atomic wasteland according to many locals. The paths that where there where muddy and eroded easily so biking and walking on the path was near impossible. So many people started fundraising and letting people know how this was an eye sore for the city of Boise. So by 1998 the City managed to fund the Greenbelt Project and connect the two parts of the city. The locals of Barber Park finally had their path to Boise along the River and the City of Boise finally finished their job.

The Greenbelt was not the only type of construction that was occurring in the Barber Park Harris Ranch area. For a long time the land had been relatively untouched aside from some small neighborhoods. So nature had plenty of time to move in. One species that I would like to focus on are the Bald Eagles that call Barber Park there home. Bald Eagles generally come to Boise around early February to make there nests and find a mate. Then from late February to early March the egg laying and incubation occurs. Then around April the eggs are hatched and the Eagles then raise the newly born Eagles. Yet bald Eagles need large high hanging trees to make there nests and raise there young. So when construction of the Barber Park Harris Ranch land area was in full swing people fought back. The early 90s where a good time to invest in real estate so, neighborhoods had to be made and Barber park and Harris Ranch where the perfect areas to build upon due to there relative large space and the fact it was undeveloped as is. So plans to put in almost 4000 homes in the area was in full effect. Yet this would require removing large amounts of trees that where home to many eagle nests. Environmentalists and concerned citizens where ready to fight back against these neighborhoods and help preserve eagle nesting sites. Due to the lack of support from locals the plans to put in the 4000 homes was scraped and reduced to around 2500. This may still seem like a large amount of homes and it is but luckily the Eagles nesting area was saved and even to this day the eagles are able to breed and nest with relative safety.

Harris Ranch like Barber Park was also consumed in the real estate sweep of the 90s. Harris Ranch was in the middle of a spirited debate on what to due to the land. The land was planned to be built on and create a community of neighborhoods markets almost to be its own little town. Yet this would require to basically wipe out any and all local wildlife both plants and animals. The big animal that was threatened was local mule deer population who call Harris Ranch home. The development of the land would completely remove there home and cause them to relocate. Biologists on both sides had arguments on what would happen to the deer. On side said “ The deer will not be effected there is still plenty of land for them to roam and feed.” Other Biologist said that this would cause a clash of city and nature and the deer would cause many accidents and pose a threat to locals. The threat would be them running across a developed Harris Ranch causing major vehicle accidents. The other part of Harris Ranch that caused controversy was that Harris Ranch had many small wetlands that were home to many fish and amphibians. The development of Harris Ranch would remove these completely and any animals that couldn’t find new suitable habitats would die. So the Harris Ranch land area was eventually halted and has slowly continued but at a much slower pace. Plans to create a large development have still not been planned but anything can happen in the future.

So what we see as a common threat to nature is the constant expansion and development of man. In efforts to put us more close to nature we put that very nature under threat. The greenbelt was the prefect example of plans to bring nature into the city but causing much destruction along the way. The housing development of Barber Park and Harris Ranch have caused a large amount destruction to local wild life but where eventually halted or slowed thanks to concerned citizens and people fighting to keep nature alive in the city.