Airport Rehab crew, l to r:
Ross Engle and Dan Conner from Aero; Charles Vanmeer, Mark Stechelin, Roger Campbell and Ben Forsberg from D3.

Work at airport in Smiths Prairie
highlights collaboration and
helps area ravaged by recent wildfires

In May, a small crew from ITD’s District 3 and the Division of Aeronautics, came together to improve the small backcountry airstrip in Smith’s Prairie, Idaho, working collaboratively at the Downer Memorial Airport to benefit the state’s dedicated pilots and recreational enthusiasts.

After being ravaged by multiple wildfires in the last decade, the airport got a well-deserved facelift, courtesy of Ben Forsberg, a TTO in the Hammett maintenance shed.

Forsberg contacted Aero about doing an operations team-lead project. Ben was one of the team members that restored the Atlanta airstrip in July 2019, and wanted to take on the Prairie airstrip improvements this spring as his TTO step-three project.

Armed with a “can do” attitude, Ben gathered a crew and equipment, and went to work. During the two-week project, the crew not only did training for employees that needed qualified on certain equipment but also graded, re-seeded the runway (5,400 feet long by 150 feet wide), worked over and painted navigational markers and the windsock, cleaned up burnt trees and fixed fences.

Less than 24 hours after the gate shut, equipment left and the dust settled on the newly refurbished runway, it was being enjoyed. Members of the flying community BBQed hotdogs and hamburgers over a campfire there, before climbing into their tents for the Memorial Day weekend.

To truly appreciate the work, you must first know the history and why the work was necessary to restore this hidden gem.

The airport was named after the Downer Bros. Lumber Company, which was established when Durward and Dwight purchased a sawmill at the location in 1940. It was a summer operation, with winter maintenance shops in Meridian and elsewhere in the Treasure Valley.

The drive from the Boise Valley was long (more than three hours) and tedious, over winding washboard gravel roads up the backwaters of Arrow Rock Dam. This was very inefficient for the transport of crews to the mill and for necessary machinery and groceries. Legend has it that in the mid ‘40s, Dwight was on his way to the mill and stopped at the old Prairie store. He was complaining about the long drive when one of the Prairie residents suggested that the mill get an airplane. This idea clicked with the brothers, and they proceeded to acquire their flight certificates and explore the available types of aircraft.

They learned to fly in an Aercoup, acquired a Stinson aircraft, (a Voyager Station Wagon) and then discovered the Beechcraft line. During this time they were landing at Prairie in a wheat field. Eventually, Dwight obtained permission to build a strip on the present airport location, moved in with the bulldozer and did most of the construction himself.

Dwight died suddenly in 1949, leaving the mill to be operated by Durward, who purchased a new Beechcraft Bonanza for his personal transportation and a Navy Surplus Staggerwing Beech (0081V) to haul men and equipment to and from the mill site. Durward was never secure with the short coupled, 450 HP Staggerwing, though, so he hired a retired air force pilot (Wayne Watson) to fly it for the mill. Many of the residents had their first plane ride in one of the Downer planes. The aircraft was also used for medical emergencies.

In the fall of 2005, the Idaho Transportation Board and Idaho Aeronautical Board graciously consented to rename the strip Smith Prairie Downer Memorial Airport.

More than a decade later, tragedy struck the small airport.

In 2013, the Elk Complex fire hit the area, along with the Fall Creek, Soda and Tepee fires, leaving devastation and more than 100,000 acres burned. The wild fires that blazed over the area took with it, the once beautiful streams, meadows and forest the Downer Bros. Lumber Company once harvested.

In 2014, Dan Conner from the Division of Aeronautics returned to the charcoaled and blackened area with washouts, silted-in creek beds, burnt structures and dead vegetation and trees.

“We came back into the airport with a small crew and rebuilt the picnic shelter, fences, and rehabbed the outhouse along with what they could do to make the runway serviceable. It was looking better, but still looked like a fire-devastated area,” explained Conner.

It will still take many years for the area to rebuild and the trees and vegetation to completely grow back, but the work Forsberg and crew completed this year was a significant step in that direction. 

Published 07-24-20