Mountain Home AFB · Idaho · Snake River corridor
Mountain Home Air Force Base
The densest raptor nesting concentration in North America.
Snake River Canyon, Idaho · chadh (CC BY 2.0)
Sample 360° capture
Palouse Falls to Lyons Ferry, Snake River WA.
A live example of what the Mountain Home Air Force Base corridor would look like after capture, drawn from existing Terrain360 work in the region.
Corridor narrative
Why this corridor.
Mountain Home Air Force Base sits on the high desert of the Snake River Plain, where the river runs through one of the most spectacular raptor landscapes in the world. The Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area — managed by BLM, established 1993 — extends along 81 miles of canyon downstream of the base and supports the densest nesting concentration of raptors in North America.
While Lewis & Clark didn't travel this particular reach of the Snake (the Corps' 1805 route crossed Lemhi Pass into Idaho via the Salmon, and the 1806 return passed north of here through the Clearwater drainage), the watershed itself is the Lewis & Clark river system, and the recreation density here is national-scale. C.J. Strike Reservoir, Bruneau Dunes State Park, the Bruneau-Jarbidge Wild & Scenic River, and the BLM Owyhee Front OHV system together form one of the densest mixed-use recreation clusters in the inland West.
For the proposal site, Mountain Home is the Snake River Plain anchor — the only major active-duty Air Force base in the Snake watershed not already covered by Yakima or Fairchild. The REPI buffer narrative writes itself: the base, the Birds of Prey NCA, and the Snake River corridor are functionally one landscape.
Lewis & Clark connection
Snake River Plain corridor — adjacent to BLM's Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA. The Corps' return route in 1806 crossed the Snake drainage to the north; this segment of the Snake was not directly travelled, but the watershed is the same and the recreation density is national-scale.
Watershed-connected to the LCNHT but not directly on the 1805-06 expedition route. The Corps' westbound 1805 path crossed Lemhi Pass via the Salmon River; the 1806 return crossed the Clearwater drainage to the north. The Snake at Mountain Home is in the same river system but ~150 miles upstream of any reach the expedition traveled. The framing here is corridor-by-watershed, not corridor-by-step.
Only major active-duty AF base in the Snake River corridor. The Birds of Prey NCA adjacency offers a textbook REPI buffer narrative — one of the densest raptor nesting concentrations in North America.
Final deliverables
What the partnership receives.
Hosted 360° portal
Web-based interactive map showing pan-and-explore imagery of both riverbanks and every mapped trail. Mobile + desktop. Embeddable in any partner site.
Geo-referenced imagery dataset
Equirectangular panoramas + GPS tracks delivered to the installation INRMP team and the NPS Trail Office for reuse in REPI reporting, ESA Section 7, and outreach.
Printable corridor maps
Asset index keyed to the imagery - suitable for visitor information, grant deliverable documentation, and partner co-branding.
L&C interpretive layer (optional)
Waypoint overlay tying the corridor to journal entries and historic sites - Tower Rock, Gates of the Mountains, the Falls portage, the Pacific arrival.
Asset inventory
Every asset, costed.
Each row is a discrete 360-mapping unit. Rivers are priced per mile of both-bank boat capture; trails per mile; access sites as fixed 360 nodes.
| Recreation asset | Type | Miles | LCNHT | Access | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snake River — C.J. Strike Reservoir reach ~10 mi S | River | 30 | Near | Public | $45,000 |
| Snake River — Bruneau to Hagerman reach ~35 mi SE | River | 22 | Near | Public | $33,000 |
| Bruneau-Jarbidge Wild & Scenic River ~50 mi S | River | 18 | None | Public (BLM) | $27,000 |
| Snake River Birds of Prey NCA rim trails ~20 mi N | Trail | 25 | Near | Public (BLM) | $21,250 |
| Bruneau Dunes State Park trails ~20 mi S | Trail | 6 | None | Public | $5,100 |
| Owyhee Front (BLM) OHV routes ~40 mi S | Trail | 60 | None | Public (BLM) | $51,000 |
| Boise NF foothills trail network (Trinity Mtns) ~50 mi N | Trail | 30 | None | Public (USFS) | $25,500 |
| Cove Recreation Area / C.J. Strike launch ~10 mi S | Access | - | Near | Public | $1,500 |
| Bruneau Dunes State Park visitor center ~20 mi S | Access | - | None | Public | $1,500 |
| Swan Falls Dam Recreation Site ~25 mi N | Access | - | Near | Public (BLM) | $1,500 |
| Celebration Park (petroglyphs) ~30 mi NW | Access | - | None | Public | $1,500 |
Corridor map (accent)
Satellite view of the corridor footprint, with rivers, trails, and access sites color-coded. Real corridor traces will land in v2; pins here are placeholder anchors at the installation.
Related Terrain360 work
