Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Recreation Floating topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Boise officials prepare Float the Boise season as partners track river flows and safety
Summary
City staff and partner agencies reported this week on Float the Boise outreach, safety assets and monitoring as they await river conditions to stabilize for an opening date; officials emphasized life-jacket messaging and interagency coordination.
Boise City staff and partner agencies provided a season update on Float the Boise on the council dais, outlining outreach, monitoring and safety-planning as they await a decision on the float season opening.
The update came from Bonnie Shelton, representing the city partnership that coordinates Ada County Parks and Waterways, Boise Parks and Recreation and Boise Fire. Shelton said partners receive weekly river-release information from the Bureau of Reclamation, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers, which helps the group determine when it is safe to open the float season.
Shelton summarized last year’s usage and operations: an estimated 150,000 people floated the six-mile stretch from Barber Park to Anne Morrison Park, the partnership provided more than 47,000 shuttle rides, the floattheboise.org site recorded about 41,000 hits last season and Boise Fire responded to about 41 calls for service. She said the floattheboise.org site now averages about 400 daily users and includes an interactive hazard map (prepared with Boise Fire GIS staff), water-temperature reporting, a safety checklist, and new safety videos and drone footage showing the route.
Shelton said current river flow observed during the briefing was about 1,200 cubic feet per second (CFS). She said water managers indicated flows were likely to remain near that level — inside the approximately 1,500 CFS threshold the partnership generally considers for opening — but added that hazard assessment and mitigation by Boise Fire is ongoing and would influence any final decision. Shelton noted that final opening decisions also consider prolonged warm temperatures and stable conditions because water temperature is near 50 degrees.
On safety and enforcement, Shelton said Boise Fire’s dive team will continue to provide on-water response and that Boise Police will collaborate with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office Marine Division on selected days this summer to encourage life-jacket use and discourage drinking while floating. She emphasized that children 14 and younger are required to wear life jackets and that the partnership will increase life-jacket messaging.
Shelton described new operational tools launched this year: safety and “know before you go” videos, a drone overview of the float, and a new Ada County floater-hub web page that supplies parking occupancy and a camera-based count at Barber Park; that county page is linked from floattheboise.org. She also credited weekly interagency calls with enabling rapid public updates when conditions change.
Council members thanked Shelton and encouraged use of the new online tools and videos. Shelton said private shuttle providers (Boise River Raft and Tube) have been training staff and that a contract for shuttle services appears on the council agenda that night for approval.
Shelton closed by saying the partnership is tracking river flows, clearing snags with permitting from state resource agencies where required, and preparing floater services and staffing for an opening when partners agree the river is safe.
Officials said they will continue to post updates through the floattheboise.org site and partner channels as conditions evolve.
