Idaho Parks and Recreation is working on a project at The Discovery Unit at Lucky Peak State Park to make it easier for people to access the water in the summer months.
The state park is partially closed while crews move rock and dirt to improve access by creating a spot for families to recreate, and they will also install an ADA ramp for people to launch their non-motorized watercraft.
Check out the video to see the project and how people use this area in the summer.
"We want everybody to have a chance to get out there, and that includes making everything as accessible as possible," said Surat Nicol of Idaho Parks and Recreation. "It will really open it up to another segment of our community, and that is what we are about with parks."
The Discovery Unit may be quiet right now, but that makes it one of my favorite spots to take my dog. However, everything changes when the water fills this area in the summer, and it's one of the most popular spots to paddleboard.
"On weekends in the summer here, we are out of parking by 11 a.m. or noon," said Surat. "The park was real quiet until 2020, then COVID hit, and people discovered the outdoors again. Paddleboarding, which is a growing sport, became very popular."
Previously, the bank had a sharp drop-off that made it challenging to access the water. So this restoration project aims to fix that, following the Parks and Rec mission to "Improve the quality of life in Idaho through outdoor recreation and resource stewardship."
"We had some repairs that we did several years ago with a product, but it had a finite life expectancy, and then we had some high water incidents on consecutive years that really washed out the area here," added Nicol.
Idaho Parks and Rec expects the work to continue until April 1. During that time, there will be partial closures to the Discovery Unit, but people can still access the Greenbelt, the Sandy Shores Unit, and Spring Shores Marina, which all make up Lucky Peak State Park.
To visit all these parks, it costs seven dollars a day, or the best way to enjoy these gems multiple times is to buy an annual parks pass for ten dollars when you register your vehicle.
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