Welcome to BOISE

Boise is the capital city of Idaho, USA. It is the county seat of Ada County and the chief city of the Boise Metropolitan Area, the Treasure Valley.

Having a healthy population of green trees, Boise is fondly referred to as the ‘City of Trees’. The weather in Boise is usually cold. Summers are mild, while winters are very cold. The annual average high temperature is 4.5°C with the annual average low temperature being –6°C.

With a population of approximately 216,200, the city of Boise is the most populated city in the Idaho.

The state government is one of the main employers in the city due it being the capital city. Boise is also home to the Boise State University. Recently setup High-Tech industries are rapidly gaining importance in the city’s economy.

Tourism

A number of recreational opportunities are available in Boise, including extensive hiking and biking in the foothills to the immediate north of downtown. Much of this trail network is part of Hull's Gulch and can be accessed by 8th street. An extensive urban trail system called the Boise River Greenbelt runs along the river. The Boise River itself is a common destination for fishing, swimming and rafting.

In Julia Davis Park is Zoo Boise, which has over 200 animals representing over 80 species from around the world. An Africa exhibit, completed in 2008, is the most recent addition.

The Bogus Basin ski area opened in 1942 and hosts multiple winter activities, primarily alpine skiing and snowboarding, but also cross-country skiing and snow tubing. "Bogus" is 16 miles (26 km) from the city limits (less than an hour drive from downtown) on a twisty paved road which climbs 3400 vertical feet (1036 m) through sagebrush and forest.

Professional sports teams in Boise include the Boise Hawks of the short-season Class A Northwest League (minor league baseball), the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL (minor league hockey), and the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League (minor league basketball). An arenafootball2 franchise, the Boise Burn, began play in 2007.

On the sports entertainment front, Boise is also the home of a DIY all-female, flat track roller derby league, the Treasure Valley Rollergirls.

The Boise State University campus is home to Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts, which hosts local and national fine arts performances; Bronco Stadium, the 32,000 seat football and track stadium known for its blue Field Turf field; and Taco Bell Arena, a 12,000 seat basketball and entertainment venue which opened in 1982 as the BSU Pavilion. Boise State University is known primarily for the recent successes of its football team, although it is also a fairly well-regarded commuter school for undergraduate students.

The Roady's Humanitarian Bowl football game (formerly known as the Humanitarian Bowl and later the MPC Computers Bowl) is held in late December each year, and pairs a team from the Western Athletic Conference with an Atlantic Coast Conference team.

The World Center for Birds of Prey is located just outside city limits, and is a key part of the re-establishment of the Peregrine Falcon and the subsequent removal from the Endangered Species list. The center is currently breeding the very rare California condor, among many other rare and endangered species.

The city has been cited by publications like Forbes, Fortune and Sunset for its quality of life.

The cornerstone mall in Boise, Boise Towne Square Mall, is also a major shopping attraction for Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, and surrounding areas and has recently been through an upgrade along with adding new retailers.

The state's largest giant sequoia can be found near St. Lukes Hospital.

The Boise Bench

The Boise Bench is south of Downtown Boise and is raised in elevation approximately 60 feet (18 m). The bench is named such because the sudden rise in elevation gives the prominent appearance of a step, or bench. The Bench (or Benches, there are 3 actual benches throughout the Boise Valley) was created as an ancient shoreline to the old river channel. The Bench is home to the old Boise Train Depot and extensive residential neighborhoods. Due south of the Boise Bench is the Boise Airport.

Zoo Boise

In 1916 a circus traveled through Mountain Home. During the stop, a monkey escaped from captivity and was finally found in the Mountain Home Desert, long past the circus’s departure. Boise being the home for the newfound monkey, a Boise Zoo was then founded. Boise’s Zoo, located along Julia Davis Park, is a prime example of Boise’s family-fit environment. A trip to a zoo, a lunch in a park, and even a museum voyage enables Julia Davis Park and the surrounding area to be magnificent as it is. Educating children and exposing children to nature, the Boise Zoo contributes many visitors to Julia Davis Park. Currently Zoo Boise is working on a much-anticipated "African" exhibit. This $2.8 Million exhibit will include a new African Village, three small exhibit areas (housing rock hyrax, weaver birds, and lemurs), and two large exhibit areas (housing lions, giraffes, and zebras). This will provide Boise the opportunity to explore ALL cultures and entertain the zoo's master plan of exposing Boise to all Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Humanitarian Bowl

The Humanitarian Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game that has been played annually at 33,000-seat Bronco Stadium on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho, since 1997. The game currently matches a team from the Mountain West Conference with one from the Western Athletic Conference, typically the conference champion. The MWC replaces the Atlantic Coast Conference, which did not renew its contract past the 2008 game.

For its first four years the Humanitarian Bowl offered an automatic bid to the Big West Conference champion. From 1997–99 the opponent was a team from Conference USA, while in 2000 an at-large was chosen. After the 2000 Humanitarian Bowl, the Big West Conference stopped sponsoring football and the automatic bid instead went to the WAC where it remains to this day.

The game was sponsored by Micron Technology, an Idaho-based manufacturer, from 1999 to 2002 under the name Crucial.com, which sells computer memory upgrades from Micron. The bowl game then briefly had no sponsor for the January 2004 game. In December 2004, the name was changed to the MPC Computers Bowl. MPC Computers was formerly MicronPC, the computer manufacturing division of Micron, but split from Micron and has no affiliation with Micron. In April 2007, it was announced that the bowl will again be called the Humanitarian Bowl. In May 2007, a new bowl sponsor was announced, Roady's Truck Stops. The bowl's name is now the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl.

It is the longest running cold weather bowl game currently in operation. The payout is $750,000, but teams are required to provide a corporate sponsor, purchase a minimum number of tickets, and stay at a selected hotel for a minimum stay. Because of this, 7–4 UCLA declined an invitation to the Humanitarian Bowl in 2001.

World Center for Birds of Prey

The World Center for Birds of Prey, is the headquarters for The Peregrine Fund, an international non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves endangered raptors around the world. Built in 1984, the World Center for Birds of Prey is located on 580 acres (2.3 km2) on a hilltop overlooking Boise, Idaho. The campus consists of the business offices of The Peregrine Fund, breeding facilities for endangered raptors, the Velma Morrison Interpretive Center, and the Herrick Collections Building, which houses a large research library and the Archives of Falconry.

The Peregrine Fund is known for its worldwide conservation and recovery efforts of rare and endangered raptors. The organization's first recovery effort focused on the Peregrine Falcon, which was facing extinction due to the widespread use of the chemical DDT. The Peregrine Falcon was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species list in 1999 at an international celebration held in Boise.