Beginning with the pandemic in 2020, the Blackfoot watershed experienced a significant spike in visitation. Landowners, especially along the main Blackfoot River corridor, began reporting issues with visitor behavior, safety risks, and degradation of natural areas and habitats.

In response, the Blackfoot Challenge convened a series of community conversations, followed by formalizing a Recreation Committee within our program committee structure. A program coordinator was hired in late 2024 and a long-term work plan put into place. Today Blackfoot Challenge Recreation Committee includes all state and federal partners who manage resources in the Blackfoot watershed, community members from all seven Blackfoot communities, conservation partners, university recreation researchers, and local government planners who meet regularly to focus on shared priorities around a co-created mission statement:

To sustain a clean, connected, and biodiverse Blackfoot watershed, protect and steward natural resources, and support our vital rural communities through adaptive recreation planning and collaborative management.

To learn more or become a member of the Blackfoot Recreation Committee, contact our Recreation Program Coordinator Marley Held-Wilson.