Rent increase threatens field campus

McCALL, Idaho – A Payette Lake campus where the University of Idaho has taught elementary school children and graduate students since the 1930s may be forced to move or close because of a hefty rent increase, officials say.

The lease on the 11 lakeside acres, which are part of the UI’s McCall Field Campus, will increase nearly $220,000 a year after properties in the area were reappraised, said Karla Bradley, education director at the McCall Outdoor Science School.

The Moscow-based university leases the property from the Idaho Department of Lands, which wants to raise the rent, Bradley said.

The UI was granted temporary permission to pay less than the market lease value to maintain its activities on the property, but university officials don’t know how long the Department of Lands will let the university pay $55,000 when it could be getting $274,000 a year.

Field Campus Director Steve Hollenhorst said UI might have to move the campus, close it or negotiate a land swap.

About 3,500 children from across the state visit the campus each year, Hollenhorst said. Teachers and parents serve as chaperones, while students receive instruction from UI graduate students who take classes in environmental science and teaching methods, he said.