BANKS, Idaho — Banks is one of the most popular places in the Boise National Forest and heading into the summer kayakers and rafters will have a number of different amenities as officials combat the growth in the area.
The Boise National Forest installed a new wooden boat ramp at Banks with the outfitters and guides in mind. They also installed a two-lane concrete boat ramp for the private boaters. While anyone can use either of these ramps, the design is to separate the user groups and help people get on the river.
The wooden ramp is ideal for paddle rafters that commercial operations use, while the concrete ramp will allow private boaters to back their boats down to the water without having to deal with the potholes that have been there in previous years.
"I think we really worked with the outfitters and surveyed the public to try and to get as many ideas as we could," said Gabe Housh of the Boise National Forest. "I hope this will really be an answer that helps people get in and out quicker, lets people be safer while they are coming here and also makes boating funner than it already is."
I love this time of year on the Payette River system because the crowds don't really show up until Memorial Day Weekend. However, it will be busy for the rest of the summer after that.
The Idaho Department of Transportation is currently working on installing a traffic signal at the intersection, but this is also the intersection of the experts only North Fork of the Payette River, the South Fork of the Payette and the Main, which is the most popular rafting section in the region.
"It’s very busy, it’s very hectic," said Butch Davis, the Recreation Manager for the Payette. "Our biggest visitation day last year was over 2,600 visitors on the Saturday of July 4. It's very busy, very challenging, and the ramp is really going to help us."
The Boise National Forest also manages the put-ins and take-outs up on the South Fork of the Payette River. I've always appreciated the ramp at the put-in to the Staircase section that makes it really easy to launch into the river.
Further upstream, the Boise National Forest also fixed up the wooden ramp at Danskin, the take-out for the canyon and the put-in for Swirly Canyon. They replaced the wood, installed metal angles from a machine shop in Emmett and applied marine-grade coating to protect rafts.
"They are loving it, not only the recreational boaters, but again also the outfitter and guides," said Davis. "They are like, hey, fist bump, thanks for doing that."
Rafters also have a new ramp at the take-out of the Main Payette at Beehive Basin. That project was done by the Bureau of Land Management, but the funding for all of these projects came from legislation from the first Trump administration.
"This project was funded through the Great American Outdoors Act which came about five years ago," said Housh. "It has really helped our forest and a lot of forests around the country do some deferred maintenance on sites like this. They were functioning well, but could use a lot of love and were starting to fall into disrepair. We have really been appreciative of that congressional funding to do projects like this one."
Parking at these sites costs three dollars per day or people can purchase a season pass for $20 at Recreation.gov. Funds from this go towards maintenance during the year, most notably cleaning the restrooms.
The Great American Outdoors Act also allowed the Boise National Forest to make improvements at another popular destination at Kirkham Hot Springs.
