Trevor Delaney
Sports Editor
The City of Pocatello and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are coming together with plans for a future trailhead on the city’s East Bench, providing greater public access to over twenty miles of an existing trail system on over 1300 acres of public land. These trails are currently difficult to effectively access for most trail users with no official parking area at an established trailhead, leading many to simply not use the land due to limited access or confusion over the legal status of the land itself. With the plans for establishing a trailhead on land currently owned by Pocatello on Pocatello Creek Road, Pocatello area residents and visitors to the region will be gaining substantially more access for hiking, horseback riding, biking and some limited ATV trails. With most of the popular hiking trails like Gibson Jack, City Creek and the Mink Creek trail system being located on Pocatello’s West Bench or south of town, the current trailhead plans will open up access on the East Bench to all where only a select few have enjoyed its use before.
The plan is several years in the making, starting when Pocatello resident and current Regional Administrator for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Bruce Olenick, presented the initial plan to the city council to attempt to provide access to “orphaned” public lands in the Pocatello area. These tracts of so-called “orphaned” lands are simply parcels of public land that have limited access to the public or no public access whatsoever. The reasons for this informal “orphaned” status are varied, from individual lots of public land being boxed in by private land without providing an easement across the land, or solely by a lack of public parking for recreationists to actually access the site from. Federal guidelines for the use of public land also encourage local governments and municipalities to provide and encourage access to public lands in order to benefit the recreation community through the use and enjoyment of their public land.
On a local Facebook group discussing the proposed trailhead, Pocatello area resident Trina Hall voiced her concerns over potential harms that could be caused by a new trailhead. “I think a trail system is great, but I fear we will be like City Creek. Tent cities, graffiti, vandalism, littering, etc,” said Hall. “I know I may live up the road more but my back acreage runs close to this and is only a second thought on an undesignated trail to begin trespassing. I get enough of that without full access.”
“I can relate to Trina’s concerns,” said local Karen Knowlton. “We get enough police chases up here as it is granted, that is (so far) a whole different demographic than non-motorized trail users. On the other hand, with a trailhead that close to us, we might be more likely to get out there ourselves.”
Other local residents are happy to see the increased access to trails on the East Bench and see the abuses to the trail system as a symptom of the land not being taken care of from a lack of users who value it. Another Pocatello Creek neighbor, Pat Butler Hill, says he “would love to see this happen.” Hill’s son and family are members of the Pocatello Pioneers, who are as Hill describes, “an awesome family-oriented biking group”. “Nothing has motors”, states Hill, “It is a wholesome group.”
Another Pocatello area resident who wished to remain anonymous sympathizes with those residents who feel this might add to an already frustrating situation. “I can definitely understand the frustration of having people park up by our mailbox to hike up Camelback. I think having a designated parking spot and trails might help alleviate some of that.”
