Crane Creek is a small tributary that flows into the Portneuf River south of Pocatello. Idaho Fish and Game owns a ~5 acre access point to the Portneuf at this location, and the Pocatello Rotary Club is collaborating with IFG to improve amenities for users of this park.
Pocatello Rotary Club Rotarian Marc Wride initiated the project in 2018, inspired by Rotary International President Ian Riseley’s call to plant a tree. After discussions between the Pocatello Club and the owners, 45 members from the Pocatello Club joined as a group with support from IFG during the spring of 2018 to “plant a tree”. We planted over 100 trees and shrubs and built a trail system that day. We have totally changed the site by working with Idaho Fish and Game: weeding, planting, replanting, installing a water drip irrigation system, watering trees and installing cement pads for benches and two pavilions. It has now become a “nature park” and fishing access combination site for public recreation. Two annual work parties by the Club help maintain and add improvements to the site, and throughout the summer months Club volunteers routinely monitor and refill irrigation networks to support the fledgling trees.
As of the fall 2024 work party, roughly fifty to sixty trees and bushes are in good health. These ranged from smaller 3-4 foot trees up to 12 foot trees (see photo). These surviving trees were predominantly pines, but included ~10 aspen that ranged from 8 to 15 feet. There are some other species including locust and maple. The locusts were doing better in the first year. There are some rose bushes from early planting five years ago still alive in the southwest corner of the park.
The most difficult things for survival were keeping plants moist and their intrinsic ability to withstand rodent and to a lesser extent deer predation. Heavy grasshopper predation hurt deciduous trees early in the planting and growth cycle, and most of those planted were lost to a combination of these problems.
Mowing the area helped raptors suppress rodent populations naturally. We have recently tried a newer technology of water boxes to address moisture. Water flowing from Crane Creek runs through the park until the month of July, after which a drip system (600 gallons, 2 times per week) supplements water for the dry, late summer months.
Cheers, Leif
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Dr. Leif Tapanila
Director, Idaho Museum of Natural History
Professor of Geosciences, Idaho State University
co-host of The Nature of Idaho
President, Pocatello Rotary Club
