Community unites to protect central Idaho’s Hailey Hot Springs Ranch

Clark Corbin

(Idaho Capital Sun) More than 900 families, businesses and nonprofit organizations teamed up to acquire and conserve what supporters are calling one of the most significant pieces of private property in central Idaho’s Wood River Valley.

Officials with the Wood River Land Trust announced Dec. 30 they were part of a large, community effort to acquire the 2,700-acre Hailey Hot Springs Ranch for permanent conservation.

The ranch, which was once the site of the historic Hailey Hot Springs Hotel in the 1800s, adds to the Hailey Greenway, a 3,000-acre, six mile stretch of protected land, officials said.

“When the For Sale sign went up at the property, people were coming to us hoping that we could do something,” Wood River Land Trust Executive Director Amy Trujillo said in a written statement. “We knew it was going to take more than one organization to make this happen. Again and again over the course of the year, we have been amazed at the way people have come together – it’s a testament to how much people love this place and what we can do together.”

Wood River Land Trust will now work to develop master plan for property

In its announcement, the Wood River Land Trust said more than 900 partners teamed up to acquire and protect the property. The list includes The Nature Conservancy, Blaine County Recreation District, Heart of the Rockies Initiative, Atira Conservation, 100 Men Who Care, the Wood River Women’s Foundation, Hailey Rotary Club, Spur Community Foundation, the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Rixon-Cronin Charitable Trust, Power Engineers, the Kid Stand charitable initiative and numerous families.

In 2025, officials with the Wood River Land Trust had announced they launched a campaign to raise $16 million to buy the property.

With the property acquisition complete, officials with the Wood River Land Trust said they will begin working on a master plan for the property and anticipate seeking public comment and involvement in developing the master plan in the spring.

Supporters are seeking to protect wildlife habitat for sage grouse, moose, mule deer, pronghorn, sandhill cranes and elk on the land, as well as preserve public access, the Wood River Land Trust said.

“Protecting Hailey Hot Springs Ranch has been the top priority of the Land Trust since its founding by community members over 30 years ago,” officials with the Wood River Land Trust wrote in a press release Dec. 30. “The acquisition adds to the Hailey Greenway, which is now a 3,000‐acre, six‐mile stretch of connected open space encompassing the Colorado Gulch Preserve, Draper Wood River Preserve, Simons/Bauer Preserve, and the new Hailey Hot Springs Ranch Preserve. The protected land now extends through riverfronts and riparian forests, wetlands, sagebrush steppe, and high-desert alpine ecosystems, where it links with thousands of acres of public land beyond.”

Plans call for reopening Hailey Hot Springs to the public

Although there is public access to the ranch, access to the hot springs itself remains closed for now, officials said. However, officials with the Wood River Land Trust said their plans call for reopening the hot springs to the public.

“An exciting part of this project is the opportunity to reopen public access to the hot springs,” the Wood River Land Trust said in its press release. “The springs are located in a sensitive area, and the land trust and the Blaine County Recreation District will be developing a plan to provide a long-term solution that provides safe and accessible hot spring access for the public away from the sensitive wildlife area. Thus, for now, the hot spring will remain closed to the public until that can be developed.”

Access to the ranch is available via Democrat Gulch Road, which is surrounded by Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service public land, officials said.