EAGLE ISLAND STATE PARK
MASTER PLAN RELEASED

BOISE – Governor Jim Risch and members of the Planning Committee unveiled the comprehensive Master Plan today for the 546-acre Eagle Island State Park.  The park will provide year-round recreation opportunities with urban and natural features tied together by a series of lakes and channels.

“This is an exciting opportunity to develop a park that will not only meet the needs of citizens today, but for future generations.  When our grandchildren and their children use this park, there will be a few who pause and think of those that are gathered here today, who had the foresight to create this wonderful natural park in the middle of an urban area,” said Risch.

The north portion of the park will include camping and picnic areas, an amphitheater, resource education center and kayak/canoe launch sites.  The existing water slide and beach areas remain in the center of the park with the addition of an ornamental garden and shelter.

The south portion of the park will remain more in an undeveloped state with trails, meadows and informal picnic areas.

“The Eagle Island State Park Master Plan encompasses all of the goals and visions outlined by the Planning Committee and the mandate in the Governor’s Executive Order.  The plan also protects the existing uses and expands the recreational opportunities,” said Eagle Mayor and Planning Committee Co-chair Nancy Merrill.  “A wide consortium of interests throughout the valley was represented on this committee. We worked long and hard to come to a consensus.

This is just the first step. The dreaming is the fun part of the process.  Now we need to make it become a reality.”

The Master Plan was developed with the help of consultants and the direction of a 19-member planning committee along with the Idaho Parks and Recreation Board.  The committee held a series of workshops and forums to gather public input and create a community-based design process. 

Park construction will be completed in phases and partially funded by the removal of gravel to create the series of lakes and channels, which will make up approximately 20 percent of the park.  Preliminary estimates for the gravel resources are $6 million in revenue with the total cost of the park estimated at $24 million.

The State Board of Prisons purchased Eagle Island State Park for $72,000 in 1929 for use as a prison farm.  The Eagle Island Fish Hatchery was located on the land in 1937 and is still operated by the Idaho Fish and Game.  In 1977 the Department of Corrections turned the property over to the Idaho Department of Lands and the Land Board voted to set aside the property for development as a state park.

The Eagle Island State Park Planning Committee members are as follows:

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