Massive Data Center Proposed for Public Lands in Idaho

A Las Vegas, Nevada, company called Rhea Data is looking to build a large-scale data center on thousands of acres of public land in Idaho administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). According to sources inside the BLM, the 4-million square-foot data center complex would sprawl across roughly 3,700 acres in south Ada County near Boise.

BLM employees who spoke with Field & Stream this morning said the plan is still in “very early stages.” But initial features include a natural gas power plant and a transmission line right-of-way extending into an adjacent county.

The plan falls under the purview of the BLM’s Four Rivers Field Office in Boise, which is responsible for approximately 1.3 million acres of Idaho BLM lands. “Here you will find a multiple-use landscape that includes world-class trail and river recreation opportunities, timber production, livestock grazing, and protected areas for rare and endangered wild plants and animals,” the Four Rivers Field Office website reads. “The 190-mile Ridge to Rivers Trail System, including the Hulls Gulch National Recreation Trail, provides hiking and biking opportunities in the Boise Foothills.”

The broader area managed by the Four Rivers Field Office includes the main stem, middle fork, north fork, and south fork of the Payette River. Just a short drive from Boise, the Payette and its tributaries are popular destinations for trout anglers and other river users. It’s also home the Little Gulch Recreation Area, popular with OHV enthusiasts.

“The [data center] application has been submitted,” said Heather Tiel-Nelson, a public affairs officer based out the Four Rivers Field Office. “It will now have to go through some environmental analysis that will take some time—several months or longer. It’s going to be a very long process.”

Habitat Concerns

Dre Arman is an Idaho-based hunter and the coordinator for the Idaho chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA). She told Field & Stream that the data center is still in the pre-proposal phase. “At this point we have more questions than answers,” she said. “Where’s the water [needed for the data center] going to come from? How will this impact the power grid? Our primary concerns with this proposal are the potential impacts to fish and game habitat. What are the ripple effects for habitat beyond the actual footprint of the data center?”

The data center complex would be near Blacks Creek Reservoir. According to Arman, Idaho BHA has partnered with the BLM on fence removal work in the vicinity of Blacks Creek that is designed to improve big-game habitat connectivity.

Blacks Creek Reservoir is 106 acres in size with fishing opportunities that are highly dependent on spring inflows, according to the Idaho Department of Fish & Game (IDFG). “Following a series of wet years, good fishing opportunity exists,” IDFG states on its website. “Ideally, this is a good bluegill and perch fishery close to Boise, and a great winter spot to take kids ice fishing for perch. Yellow perch fishing during winter months can produce high catch rates.”

Jarod Blades, the Field Manager for the Four Rivers BLM Office, said he received the initial application for the project in the spring of 2025. “We’re getting close to releasing our Notice of Intent (NOI),” Blades told F&S. “Then the project will appear on the Federal Register, and that will kick off the NEPA process, which will coincide with a public involvement process.” He said there will be a minimum of 30 days for public comment along with several in-person meetings.

Scope and Scale

“The data center is anticipated to have a 600 megawatt power processing capacity,” Blades added. “And the accompanying gas plant could generate up to 450 megawatts.” That means the completed data center complex would draw a continuous stream of 600 megawatts of power as soon as it goes online. For context, one megawatt of power can typically supply about 650 homes in the Boise area per day with adequate power needs, according to Idaho Power.

When it comes to known wildlife habitat, Blades said the general area contains both big-game and bird migration routes. “There are some important pronghorn movement areas a little bit to the east [of the proposed footprint],” he said. “And it’s a hotspot during bird migration periods, including for waterfowl.”

Blades also noted that there is protected bird sanctuary in close proximity to the reservoir and a popular public shooting range nearby. “All of that this will be taken into consideration during the NEPA process,” he added.

More Public Land Data Centers

The data center plan for Blacks Creek Reservoir is just one of several large data centers proposed on BLM lands across the West. According to recent reporting in the Washington Sun, the Trump Administration is considering more data centers than was previously known. The proposals cover at least 17,600 acres across 6 western states: Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.

Field & Stream previously reported on the Townsite Data Center, which was approved for BLM lands outside Boulder City, Nevada. That projects is now in limbo after a federal board found that the BLM violated NEPA by swapping in an environmental review process that was conducted for a separate solar-farm project in 2023.

According to Blades, the proposal for the Four Rivers BLM district is a direct product of the Trump Administration’s national priorities around data centers, rather than a project that was intentionally sought out by local BLM staff. “This project is responsive to the current administration’s priorities,” he said. “I’ve been asked in the past, did we identify specific areas that are suitable for data centers? The answer is no. We’ve looked at areas that were appropriate for energy and infrastructure—but nothing specific to data centers. I do think this proposal is responsive to national priorities, and to the administration’s.”

The data center proposal comes at a time of historic support among Idaho voters for protecting public lands for future generations. According to 2025 polling from a group called Conservation Voters of Idaho, a whopping 96 percent of Idahoans want public land to remain in public hands. The state is home to a total of 35.5 million acres of US Forest Service and BLM lands combined.

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