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Watershed Moment�Planning today’s land uses �for tomorrow’s river

City of Ketchum, Idaho�Planning & Zoning Commission�

July 1, 2026

Cece (Osborn) Albertson

Community Planning Director

cece@woodriverlandtrust.org �(208) 727-7320

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Today’s presentation

Watershed Moment | Wood River Land Trust

Policy Alignment

  • Regional
  • Ketchum

Project Timeline

WRLT Program: Community Planning

Community Engagement

Current Project: Watershed Moment

  • Purpose
  • Context & Deliverables
  • Process

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What does this look like?

  • Special projects
  • Regional Coordination

Focus Areas

  • Habitat Conservation
  • Water Availability
  • Transportation Mobility
  • Community Housing
  • Livability

Approaches

  • Engage
  • Evaluate
  • Educate
  • Encourage
  • Coordinate

Purpose

  • Regional and long-range planning�

“Building capacity to steward a livable future”

WRLT Program: Community Planning

Watershed Moment | Community Planning Program | Wood River Land Trust

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Recognizing the significant overlap in Comprehensive Plan policy statements from Blaine County and the cities therein, WRLT scoped the Community Planning program and its action plan objectives to stem from policy statements shared between three or more municipalities.

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Shared goals H.2 and W.2 summarize the policy statements backing this Watershed Moment project.

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Check out the full policy inventory here.

Shared Goals: Regional Policies

Watershed Moment | Policy Alignment | Wood River Land Trust

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Shared Goals

Watershed Moment | Wood River Land Trust

Shared Regional Goal

H.2 - Minimize the impact of development on habitats and wildlife, especially in the floodplain and on hillsides.

W.2 - Mitigate the impacts of existing and new development on water availability.

2014 Ketchum Comp Plan Policy Statement

Chapter 5: Natural Resource Stewardship, Goal NR1, Policies NR1.1, 1.2, 1.3. Goal NR2, Policies NR2.1. Chapter 6: Parks, Recreation, and Open Space, Goal OS-2, Policies OS2.1.

Chapter 1: Community Vision and Core Value 10. Chapter 4: Community Design and Neighborhoods, Goal CD-2, Policies CD-2.5. Chapter 5: Natural Resource Stewardship, Goal NR-3, Policies NR-3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4. Goal NR-4, Policies NR-4.1, 4.2, 4.3; Goal NR-6, Policy NR-6.5. Goal NR-8, Policy NR-8.1. Chapter 9: Public Safety and Utilities, Goal PSU-2, Policy PSU-2.1

2025 Ketchum Comp Plan Policy Statement

Chapter 3: Responsible Stewardship of Natural Resources, Goal NR-1, Policies NR-1.1, NR-1.2, NR-1.4, NR-1.5, NR-1.6, NR-1.7. Goal NR-2, Policies NR-2.1, NR-2.2, NR-2.7.

Chapter 3: Responsible Stewardship of Natural Resources, Goal NR-2, Policies NR-2.3, NR-2.4, NR-2.5, NR-2.6.

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Preserve

Open Space

Hydrate Landscapes

Sustain our

Water Sources

Grow �Smartly

Evaluate growth scenarios to build consensus for land use regulations and tools that:

Watershed Moment | Shared Goals | Wood River Land Trust

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WOOD RIVER WATER COLLABORATIVE

TARGET QUESTION

“Which land use regulations, zoning tools and programs can best protect the land, water and wildlife of Blaine County, Idaho?”

Process: Scenario Planning

Watershed Moment | Current Project | �Wood River Land Trust

To clarify and estimate how projected growth– under the different land use regulations– will impact water consumption and riparian habitats in the Big Wood River watershed.

“plan[ning] for an uncertain future by exploring multiple possibilities of what might happen” - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

SCENARIO PLANNING

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Will assist with the data analysis & geospatial mapping.

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Read more about the UofA’s methodology.

The WRWC is a collection of over seventy-five diverse water users, originally convened in 2014 by WRLT, TU & TNC. The Bureau of Reclamation awarded WRLT a WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management Program grant on behalf of the WRWC, our regional grassroots watershed management group.

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How can zoning accomplish water goals?

  • Increase the options that private property owners have to develop their properties in ways that reduce water demand:
    • Voluntary incentive programs
    • By-right development standards that allow for the concentration of development away from water resources
    • Attractive discretionary pathways for entitlements associated with land uses and zoning districts that are particularly consumptive or located near water resources

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

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Project deliverables

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

  1. Contextualizing Water Use
    1. Water withdrawal across the County
  2. Scenario Planning to Reduce Demand
    • Using water duties
    • Forecasting land cover change
    • Forecasting water demand
  3. One-off Analyses
  4. General Tools

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Project deliverables: Contextualizing Water Use

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

Estimated water withdrawal across the County

  • Withdrawal by jurisdiction, 2021-2025
    • Groundwater districts’ withdrawal
    • Surface water withdrawals from water districts
  • Estimated by domestic well entitlements
  • Discussion on depictions
    • Water use levels through shades of blue
    • Hover-over narratives include:
      • Differences in use by water rights (%)
      • Irrigated acreage (acres)
      • Land uses (%)
      • Water source (surface or ground water)
      • Service area size (acres)
      • Full-time residential population (people)
      • Metric on food produced

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Preliminary Data Analysis

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

Groundwater withdrawals associated with residential and recreational land uses accounted for approximately 36% of the total groundwater pumped in the Big Wood River basin in 2025.

Source:https://idwr.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/groundwater-mgmt/big-wood-gwma-advisory-comm/BWRGWMA-Ground-Water-Use-Summary.pdf

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Project deliverables: Scenario Planning

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

Developing development scenarios

  • Using “water duties”
    • average water use (acft/ac) by land use type
    • based on parcel-level water meter data, 2020-2025
    • per jurisdiction, combined when it makes sense
  • Forecasting land cover change
  • Forecasting water demand
    • Applying water duties to different development scenarios under projected growth/land cover change
    • Development scenarios based on prospective land use regulations:
      • Drought-friendly & native landscaping in public open spaces
      • Transfer of development rights program expansion
      • Cluster development code
      • Site planning for sensitive land protection
      • Consumptive turf grass restrictions and/or incentives for all private land uses
      • Various levels of infill development

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How will this project �be helpful to updating�land use regulations?

  • Visualize and map areas of the basin where planned growth stands to negatively impact the watershed
  • Evaluate the benefits and risks of potential land use regulations within the Big Wood River basin
  • Build consensus for zoning regulations and tools that can increase the protection of critical water resources

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

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Project deliverables: One-off Analyses

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

  • Estimated water demand reductions associated with participation in:
    • incentives for xeriscaping and/or 100% native planting for private residential uses
    • incentives for greywater systems for private residential and commercial uses
    • incentives for pervious surfaces for private residential and commercial uses
    • incentives for low-flow appliances for private residential uses
    • expanded reuse
  • Estimated square feet of incidental recharge opportunities
  • Revenue generating streams associated with revised fee structures and rates
    • for conservation and efficiency measures

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Project deliverables: General Tools

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

  • water demand calculator tool
    • to analyze the impacts of future developments and zoning changes
  • requirements domestic well reporting via remote metering
  • water supply compensation in Annexation Code
  • landscaping in public ROWs
  • enforcing compliance of riparian protections/regulate habitat disturbance in the floodplain
  • Watershed Improvement District & water rental pool
  • managed aquifer recharge for WW discharge

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Municipal & Community Engagement

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

Quarterly e-mail updates

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Technical advisors

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Interested community members

Elected & appointed leadership

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WRWC members

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General public

Quarterly workshops

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Presentations

Social media

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Informational website

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Watershed Moment | Timeline | Wood River Land Trust

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Municipal & Community Engagement

Watershed Moment | Current Project | Wood River Land Trust

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Q&A

Protect & Maintain Wild Spaces & Happy Places

Wood River Land Trust