Safety should be the top priority at campgrounds

Dear editor:

The trendy but now scorched-around-the-edges Baumgartner Hot Springs will be closed for the 2014 camping season. (Mountain Home News, Feb. 12)

The closure will bring added party animal pressure to the hot springs at Johnson Bridge, between Pine and Featherville and across from the Elk's Flat Campground. Now is the time for local agencies to upgrade safety and sanitation around the hot springs, at the upstream junction of Old Logging Road.

Specifically, the popular bathing and fishing site needs "No Littering" and "No Glass" signage. Local citizens provide trash cans, which are often overwhelmed by those unwilling to pack out their garbage.

In addition, log jams below Johnson Bridge endanger river floaters and need to be cleared away. So how about some help, Mountain Home Ranger District and Elmore County Highway District. Help South Fork of the Boise River visitors have a safe and sanitary summer of hot tubbing and cold tubing.

-- Wayne de la Motte, South Fork, Boise River