City to ask for public’s help in planning for Portneuf River

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and Pocatello will be partnering up to begin a ‘visioning process’ for the Portneuf River.

Lt. Col. Timothy Vail and other USACE staff visited with the city’s staff Wednesday to finalize the agreement to maximize the river’s use. The goal of the process is to have the community and USACE work together to create a system that reflects the community’s values.

Flood control remains the top priority for the plan, which the USACE plans to act as a guiding hand for.

“We bring a lot of best practices and a lot of great new ideas to the table,” said Vail. “We try to work together to try to bring an attitude of this is what we can do and not focus on what can’t be done.”

The city will begin seeking public comment for this process in the fall. In the meantime, they ask for all Pocatello residents to think of input.