Fremont County, Idaho, is booming, and Grant Chandler
doesn’t like what he sees on the horizon. “To tell you the truth,
I’m not interested in seeing another 50,000 people move in – or
even another 10,000,” says Chandler, current chairman of the county
commission. But he acknowledges that he can’t stop a development
boom in what has become a vacation hot spot. That’s why he showed
up at a meeting this winter to learn more about land trusts.
Organizer Lee Nellis, a Pocatello-based planning consultant, told a
crowd of 50 that land trusts are the logical next step, after a
comprehensive land-use plan gets adopted. Other communities in
Idaho have aleady taken that step, including Driggs, where the
Teton Valley Land Trust just acquired its first conservation
easement along Teton Creek. Not everyone at the meeting bought the
concept, but most were willing to listen. Said Jeff Siddoway, a
local rancher, “I can’t afford not to anymore.”
*Dan Egan
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Booming county looks for trust.
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