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Post Office Will Stop Wilderness Deliveries

Remote Idaho area too expensive to get to; residents are at a loss

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 6, 2009 2:26 PM CDT

(Newser) – Neither rain nor sleet nor snow ... but remote location will keep the US Postal Service from delivering mail to the Idaho wilderness starting June 30, NPR reports. Faced with a $6 billion deficit, the mail carrier is cutting back across the board, and that includes the last airstrip service in the lower 48, whose 20 deliveries across hundreds of square miles cost $44 per week cost per customer—close to 10 times the national average.

"I hate to see it end," says the owner of a ranch along the route: The only other way it can get mail is by 2-day river trip or a 26-mile drive down a "bone-jarring" road followed by a four-mile hike. The ranchers, outfitters, and researchers who live in Idaho's backcountry will have to pick up their letters themselves at the post office in Cascade—meaning many of them will need a plane of their own to get their mail.

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One of the three ways to get to the remote Fort Church area of Idaho is a two-day boat ride on the Salmon River. (©Clockworks)

This is not something the residents of Campbell's Ferry Ranch in the mountains of Idaho ever see. Now they also won't be seeing a mail plane. (©NOIZE Photography)

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They've (had) the commitment over the years to the American public to deliver the mail. And I think this is part of that commitment. - Doug Tims, owner of the remote Campbell's Ferry Ranch, who opposes the USPS's decision to stop service to his area

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 3 comments

oldgoat

Apr 7, 2009 8:51 AM CDT

Looks like to me it is a choice that they made to live in the remote areas like this. The post office shouldn't be expected to go to this much of an expense just to get their mail delivered. How they will get their mail now will be their problem, but also a result of a lifestyle choice.

Snowleopard

Apr 6, 2009 9:46 AM CDT

what a moron.

Observer

Apr 6, 2009 9:29 AM CDT

The survivalists that live a 2-day canoe ride in the sticks don't need mail. They can't read. They are isolated by choice.

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Post Office Will Stop Wilderness Deliveries