This fall, the Alzar School has been helping out the City of Boise Parks Department by engaging in a service project at the Hammer Flats location. This was an area that a developer had plans to build a large housing development, right above the local, immensely popular Black Cliffs, a sport climbing site. The plateau is also home to many animals, including coyotes, antelopes, foxes (which we saw while working on the area these past few weeks). Earlier this year, conservationists scored a major victory when the City of Boise decided to purchase the land and create a wildlife preserve.
Our mission was to walk the perimeter of the preserve to check on the status of the existing barbed wire fence. Alzar School staff and volunteers from the Boise High School Outdoor Adventure Club went out on three different occasions to help out with this project, logging over 30 hours of time helping the city. One of the days included walking in the pouring rain! In the end, we determined that 1/3 of the fence was missing, several sections were broken, and there is a fence bisecting the property that we hope will be removed to make it easier for deer, elk, and antelope to roam.
We were so impressed with the teenage volunteers on this project. They had great attitudes about hiking through the steep, wild terrain (rain or shine). Another group is going to be working on creating a mini-documentary about the efforts to protect the area.
All is good in Alzar world!
