Idaho Matters is a wonderful way to stay up to date, meet people and understand there’s much more to this great state. Hosted by Gemma Gaudette on Boise State Public Radio News, it features arts and politics, growth and education, and the interesting stories that make Idaho unique. Send us your questions, comments or story ideas by emailing idahomatters@boisestate.edu or sending us a voicemail using the “Talk To Us” feature on the free Boise State Public Radio app.
City of Boise looks to rewrite zoning code
Apr 24, 2023
Show notes(stewie811 / Flickr)
The City of Boise wants to rewrite the zoning code that governs how and where new building will happen. It’s the first major rewrite of the code in years and it will reshape how things like houses, apartments and other buildings are built in Idaho’s capital city.
The city says the new code is needed to guide growth better and create more affordable housing. Opponents say the proposal would change the shape of residential neighborhoods and favors developers over neighbors.
The new code will come under scrutiny starting Monday night as the Boise Planning and Zoning Commission begins four days of public hearings on the rewrite and we wanted to find out what the code says and how folks feel about it. So we turned to the experts who’ve been writing about the code for months.
Don Day, the founder and editor of BoiseDev.com and Senior Reporter Margaret Carmel joined Idaho Matters to talk more.
A conversation with author Leah Konen
Apr 24, 2023
Show notes
This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on January 18, 2023.
Acclaimed author Leah Konen is back with a new domestic thriller, "You Should Have Told Me." She joined Idaho Matters to talk about her latest novel.
'Times Undoing:' An author interview with Cheryl Head
Apr 24, 2023
Show notes( Dutton)
This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on February 21, 2023.
Author Cheryl Head is known for her page turning novels and her newest book, "Time’s Undoing", is her most personal yet. She joined Idaho Matters to talk more about how her outrage over the murder of George Floyd in 2020 compelled her to write her latest novel.
Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable: April 21, 2023
Apr 21, 2023
Show notesAmmon Bundy speaks to the media in front of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters on Jan. 6 near Burns, Ore. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up-to-date on all the news that made headlines this past week.
'Just my Type' author chats with Idaho Matters
Apr 21, 2023
Show notes( G.P. Putnam's Sons)
This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on February 7, 2022.
Last time we spoke with author Falon Ballard she had just released her first novel "Lease on Love." And it was a hit, receiving praise from USA Today, US Weekly, POPSUGAR and BuzzFeed, just to name a few. Now she is back with her second novel, "Just My Type."
Rewilding the Boise River is a labor of love
Apr 21, 2023
Show notes
This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on March 2, 2023.
Along the banks of the Boise River a scrubby, weedy landscape is being transformed back to a living, vibrant ecosystem thanks to the hard work of hundreds of volunteers from across the Treasure Valley.
It’s called the Boise River ReWild Project and it’s the brainchild of the Golden Eagle Audubon Society. The goal is to restore more than 50 acres of habitat along the river.
Idaho Matters producers Samantha Wright and Hannah Gardoski drove down to the river on a very windy day and walked along the bank and many rows of tubes of plastic webbing with tiny plant sprouts inside.
They were joined by Danae Fails with the Golden Eagle Audubon Society who is the project coordinator for the Boise River ReWild Project and Sean Finn, who volunteers as the Project Lead.
A stretch of the Boise River, not far from Barber Park. ( Hannah Gardoski)
Finn says the whole idea is to increase the native biodiversity along the Boise River. He says we’ve lost that biodiversity since the very first days of the Oregon Trail.
“There were people who were on the Oregon Trail who were camping right here. It's hard to believe, but it's true. And of course, those people, they stopped here, their horses and their cattle fed up on the grass and the other plants. And when they were done and ready, they moved on,” says Finn.
He says that’s been the story of the river for decades. Each time someone used the river for its resources and then moved on, leaving an area behind that degraded over time.
“All those native plants that were out here, from time immemorial until about 1850, have slowly been lost just because we weren't paying attention. And now we want to pay attention.”
As the native plants died, weeds took over. And Finn says those weeds should not be there.
“The weeds serve no purpose to our pollinators and our other insects, very little purpose to our small mammals. They do nothing for the birds. They don't carry high energy nectar. They don't provide high energy berries,” Finn says.
So one of the goals of the project is to bring back the native biodiversity of wildflowers, native grasses, native shrubs that bear berries and other kinds of fruit. And they’re taking out the weeds and invasive species like Russian Olive trees.
Jon Mathews is a volunteer with the project. As a Plot Lead, he coordinates dozens of volunteers who weed the areas and plant the new sprouts.
“We planted about 2000 plants in our plots and then we go back out and kind of nurture them, throw water at them and cage them up and protect them from the deer and everything so they grow,” says Mathews.
Each plot is about half an acre. Volunteers plant dozens of kinds of plants including several kinds of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, chokecherry, bitterbrush, gooseberry leaf, globemallow, and a ton of milkweed plants.
Inside each plastic mesh tube is a tiny native plant sprout. The plastic tubing protects the plant from becoming a "chicken nugget" for deer, according to Sean Finn. ( Hannah Gardoski)
They rely on experts to help them figure out what plants to plant and where to plant them. Other experts donate their time to help teach the volunteers “who maybe don't have the knowledge but have the passion about caring for the river and caring for wild things. And so that's how we try and build communities,” says Finn.
The project relies on hundreds of volunteers, from dozens of classrooms of kids to people who grow some of the seeds and sprouts in their backyard to folks who come down to the river and pull the weeds up by hand.
Finn says they’ll maintain the plots for two years to let the native plants get established.
( Hannah Gardoski)
“We will be monitoring plant survival. We're monitoring pollinators, our attendance at these plots, and we're monitoring bird populations around these plots. And we'll do that through the end of 2024 to evaluate what our actual conservation outcomes are,” says Finn.
He says our big government agencies are working on big restoration projects but the smaller areas can fall through the cracks, like a five-acre plot of weeds along the Boise River.
Beavers have already started to rewild this section of the river. ( Hannah Gardoski)
What's next for public lands: A conversation with Tracy Stone-Manning
Apr 20, 2023
Show notes(Visit Idaho / Visit Idaho)
Tracy Stone-Manning served as Montana's Director of the Department of Environmental Quality and she served with the National Wildlife Federation. Then in 2021, President Biden asked her to become the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
She spends a lot of time on the road, including this week as the guest of the Cecil Andrus Center for Public Policy and the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Boise. She sat down with our Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk more.
'Microjoys:' An author interview with Cyndie Spiegel
Apr 20, 2023
Show notes( Penguin Life)
This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on March 6, 2023.
The book is filled with essays about the microjoys that have kept Cyndie moving forward, even in the toughest times of her life. She joined Idaho Matters to talk more.
'Enchantment:' An author interview with Katherine May
Apr 20, 2023
Show notes( Riverhead Books)
This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on March 1, 2023.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
