FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, August 9th, 2021

(MCCALL, ID) - United Payette, a recently formed coalition of local and regional stakeholders working to conserve Idaho’s endowment lands in the North Fork Payette watershed in Valley County, launched a new logo and website to support its efforts.

“This new logo captures what we are about, conserving our working forests for the good of the environment, the residents, and visitors to Valley County and caring for the watershed,” said Kristin Sinclair, a United Payette steering committee member.

As part of its outreach strategy, United Payette has also launched a website and a Facebook page to provide information to the community about this important work and ways to support it, including a portal for the public to provide financial contributions for expenses required to create a formal plan to permanently conserve the landscape.

This coalition is currently working on community outreach and education about the endowment lands in the Payette area and drafting a plan to conserve iconic endowment lands around Payette Lake to present to the Idaho State Board of Land Commissioners, which acts as the trustee for these lands.

“Most of the groups in our coalition have been working independently for the past year, and it is great to formally join forces to address the community’s demand to conserve the McCall area endowment lands and the region that so many people love and rely upon for rest and recreation,” said coalition member Matt Ganz with the Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association.

United Payette includes a large and growing number of stakeholders representing outdoor recreation, businesses, conservationists, homeowner associations, citizens, the City of McCall, Valley County, and other state and federal government entities are advisors to the plan.

“The land has a champion, and it is United Payette," said Craig Utter, a member of United Payette’s steering committee and the executive director of the Payette Land Trust.

For more information or to add your name to our growing coalition, please contact us at: unitedpayette@gmail.com or find us on the web at www.unitedpayette.org

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Vision: United Payette envisions the permanent conservation of Idaho’s Payette endowment lands in the North Fork Payette River watershed to protect water quality, public access, recreation, wildlife, and natural resources for the benefit of local communities and visitors, the environment, and present and future generations of Idahoans.

Mission: We are a broad coalition of citizens and organizations collaborating with government and private partners to identify and secure paths to permanently conserve the Payette endowment lands for the public and the health of the ecosystem for generations to come. We are committed to identifying creative and sustainable solutions to support the Governor and the Idaho Land Board’s constitutional and fiduciary responsibilities to the endowment beneficiaries and citizens of Idaho.

Current members of United Payette include:

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers

Big Payette Lake Water Quality Council

Brightwater Homeowners Association

Brundage Mountain

Burgdorf Hot Springs

Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association

Friends of Lake Cascade

Idaho Business for the Outdoors

Idaho Conservation League

Idaho Wildlife Federation

Payette Endowment Lands Alliance

Payette Lake Cottage Sites Owner Association (PLCSOA)

Payette Land Trust

Pilgrim’s Cove Homeowners Association

Private Citizens

Tamarack Bay Homeowners Association

Trust for Public Land