Projects

Warm Springs Preserve

In 2022, the City of Ketchum acquired 65 acres of disturbed upland and relict floodplain along Warm Springs Creek on the west side of Ketchum, Idaho, and established the Warm Springs Preserve for public use. The City partnered with the Wood River Land Trust, Friends of the Warm Springs Preserve, and other stakeholders to envision a renewed landscape enhancing the streamside park. Objectives for the project include restoration of aquatic habitat within the existing creek, creating side channels, enhancing floodplain connectivity, flood conveyance improvements, improved irrigation for park amenities, and establishing native plant communities.

The project reach covers 1.3 miles of entrenched, single-thread channel adjacent to both residential buildings and natural space open to the public for walking trails, a dog park, and other recreational uses. Prior to acquisition by the city, the stream channel was artificially confined to accommodate land use, concentrating flow and creating further incision and floodplain abandonment. For this project, Rio ASE contracted with Superbloom, a landscape architecture and design firm, to develop a master plan followed by detailed concepts and designs to meet the project objectives.

Rio ASE led the restoration design effort for the stream and riparian zone, integrating restoration of these natural features into the larger park master plan including interpretive paths, observation platforms, bridges, bathrooms, and irrigation infrastructure. The final design will increase the quantity and quality of in-stream habitat diversity, pools, woody debris, off-channel habitat, wetlands, native riparian shrubs and trees, and overall floodplain connectivity.