The town of Salmon in Lemhi County is located on the Salmon River in central Idaho along the old Lewis and Clark trail. Its wealth of natural assets includes a variety of threatened and endangered species; its historic past and outstanding recreational opportunities make it a popular destination. While not a large community, Lemhi residents face large-scale issues that could alter their way of life. Wildfires, endangered species, development, tourism, habitat restoration needs, and changing markets are just some of the challenges facing local people and affecting the long-term stewardship of USDI BLM lands.

Starting in the mid-1990s, the BLM, Lemhi County Commissioners, and the Mayor of Salmon initiated a partnership to protect open space, water quality, ESA fisheries, and to maintain the rural atmosphere and lifestyle treasured by Lemhi County residents. By working toward shared stewardship, citizens could be a driving force in public land management and public lands would contribute to maintaining privately-owned open space and the ecologically rich bottomlands they contain. 

Federal, State, and local governments, federal grazing permittees, conservation organizations, and others.

One of the partnership’s most innovative features is a conservation easement where development rights on ecologically less valuable BLM uplands would be exchanged for development rights on ecologically sensitive, privately-owned bottom lands. This approach will help ensure that local agriculture remains viable and that critical threatened and endangered species habitats are conserved.

The partnership is working on a number of projects:

• Restoring habitat for threatened and endangered fish on a watershed basis, covering about 1 million acres in the Lemhi and Salmon sub-basins.
• Controlling and eradicating noxious weeds within the County.
• Entered into assistance agreements with Lemhi County and the City of Salmon for Lewis & Clark bicentennial planning, including funding for the Sacajawea Center, a city-owned interpretive and educational center.
• Completed three ecosystem-based cooperative watershed-level planning projects.
• Completed an Interdisciplinary Activity Plan for Fire Management that involved state and federal agencies, tribes, and the interested public.
• Initiated a comprehensive land use planning process including the BLM Salmon Field Office, the City of Salmon, and Lemhi County to determine the best areas for growth to protect the local community’s character and values.