Fort Hall gets rural addressing system

The Fort Hall business council approved a new project to implement a rural addressing system for the reservation.

The reservation has never had an addressing system before.

All buildings within reservation boundaries are now being assigned a physical address. The Shoshone-Bannock Department of Public Safety is going door to door starting the week of Feb. 29, with fliers notifying people of their new address.

The department said going door to door will make sure everyone is aware of the information. For those that aren’t home, a flier will be left with their new address, and who they can contact with questions.

Wes Jones, the director of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Department of Public Safety, said the new system will allow emergency personnel to pinpoint an exact location, shortening the response time.

The new rural address system will also provide residents with access to outside services, such as Intermountain Gas or FedEx.

“In the past, tribal members could not actually receive items on the reservation because they did not have a rural address,” said Jones. “This is going to expedite and provide those types of services and availability of those services to the members and inhabitants on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.”

Jones said this will take some time to fully implement, but so far he said things are going well.

He said the response from those living on the reservation has been positive.