Feds back Minidoka plan

BOISE – The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has agreed to a proposal to transfer 10 acres of land in Southern Idaho to the National Park Service to expand visitor services at a site recognizing a World War II prison camp for Japanese Americans.

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is sponsoring legislation to convey two parcels owned by the federal water management agency to the Park Service, which manages the nearby 73-acre Minidoka Internment National Monument.

Designated as a national monument in 2001, the Minidoka site was originally a 33,000-acre prison compound operated by the War Relocation Authority at the Jerome County farming community of Hunt. It operated from 1942 through 1945 and held as many as 9,397 U.S. citizens of Japanese descent.

Crapo introduced legislation to transfer the two Bureau of Reclamation parcels that lie within the original 33,000-acre camp to the Park Service in December. A 2.3-acre parcel includes an old warehouse and three historical buildings from the original camp while a 7.8-acre parcel was undeveloped when the camp operated.

The subcommittee voted to forward Crapo’s bill to the full committee, which has not scheduled a vote on the bill.