A note from the editor

When my daughter was small, we used to go tent camping a couple of weekends each summer in various places around the Northwest. I soon discovered the Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds situated around the lower Snake River dams near the Tri-Cities. The campgrounds were great, but I often regretted how much history of the Lewis & Clark Trail was now underwater in the process.

That’s part of why the current discussion about the breaching of the four dams on the lower Snake is so interesting to me: There’s no obvious solution and no clear winner. With the dams, the fish may go extinct. Without the dams, the fish may still go extinct, and it would require a huge change in business practices in the whole region.

Intrepid reporter Catie Clark attempted to summarize a discussion held by the Andrus Center for Public Policy, and she described how much had to be left on the cutting-room floor (is that a metaphor kids these days even understand anymore?) in the process. That said, it’s surely not our last article on the subject, and the problem may not be solved in my or any of our lifetimes.

That article was part of this week’s focus section on construction. Catie also wrote not one but two articles about mining, one about Perpetua Resources’ plan to clean up tailings and the other about Hecla Mining’s sustainability plan to reduce emissions. Mining remains one of Idaho’s biggest industries and I’m glad we’ve been able to step up our coverage of this important sector.

Catie also wrote about a new Capital City Development Corp. request for proposal that could result in more than 200 new apartments in Boise, some of them affordable housing. It’s likely only a drop in the bucket compared with what we need, but at least it’s a start.

Moving to a more recent industry, the Idaho Technology Council (ITC) released its Deal Flow analysis and had a sit-down with Kount, which made headlines earlier this year by selling itself to Equifax. Equifax apparently has big plans for the Boise area and wants to make it its third-biggest location, so that should be a big boost to the area. And the ITC’s analysis of 2020 deals was interesting, too, though of course we reported on Alturas’ raw deal flow numbers when it released them in February. We also have a Q&A with two executives from Verified First, which helps businesses with the challenging task of finding talented workers.

Many of us sequestered at home during the pandemic took the opportunity to get a new pet, or two, or three, and that meant a business opportunity for organizations that help people take care of their pets. Our versatile freelancer Alx Stevens wrote about the pet health care and pet health insurance industry in Idaho, as well as where pets go in Idaho when they cross the Rainbow Bridge.

Finally, Catie covered a barrage of other announcements, ranging from new bus service between eastern Idaho and Los Angeles to the completion of the new State Hospital West in Nampa to a new Reed’s Dairy in Kuna.

Sharon Fisher is interim managing editor of the Idaho Business Review.