Velcpment& Anagement
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~ F~ P~e...l.T Pu~tJ - APfeNJ:J(X ~ 01987 :.JDE~WIL.D&SCENIC.RIVER '\ ., .·. VELCPMENT&. ANAGEMENT :AN .. Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 1 of 113 11/10/1978 ... 01987 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ~s:::~LTURE FOREST SERVICE ! ,.. ST. JOE WILD AND SCENIC RIVE~, :J~HO Notice of Management and Develo:~ent Plan The following is the proposed plan =cr develop ment, operation, and management of tne St. Joe Wild and Scenic River administereJ :1 the Forest Service in accordance with Public ~~~ 9J-542. ?rior to development public incu:s ~e~e obtained. " The plan is available for public rEiie~ and comment at the following Forest Ser~":e offices: Fares t Service Division of Recreation Agriculture Building Washington, D.C. 2025: Forest Service Northern Region Federal Building Missoula, Montana 5980~ Forest Service Forest Supervisor's Off~:~ Idaho Panhandle Nationa~ =:rests Coeur d'Alene, Idaho The plan shall take effect 90 days =r:~ the date of publication of this notice. Sincerely yours, •' .. " nAX PETERSON, Chief U.S. Forest Service Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 2 of 113 11/10/1978 01987 This reoort was prepared under the supervision of: RALPH KIZER, SUPERVISOR IDAHO PANHANDLE NATIONAL FORESTS COEUR D'ALENE, IDAHO by: \ILADn•HR I. STEBLI~;,,;, FORESTER COEUR D'ALENE, IJAHO Personnel assisting in preparation were: Robert Lehman, Red Ives District Ranger, St. Maries Roy Brogden, Avery District Ranger, Avery Dale Raigan, Forester, Avery Gerry Grove, Forester, St. Maries Robert Shackleford, Multi-Resources Sta~f Officer, Coeur d'Alene Clyde Blake, Recreation Staff Specialist, Coeur d'Alene Dean Carrier, Wildlife Staff Specialist, Coeur d'Alene Roy Wise, Forest Engineer, Coeur d'Alene Lynn Bandur, Illustrator, Coeur d'Alene Tom Kovalicky, Forester-Special Areas,Missoula, Montana Sharon Stagner, Typist, Coeur d'Alene Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 3 of 113 11/10/1978 01987 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page .. Page SUMMARY WATER QUALITY .. .51 ............... 1 SUMMARY SHEET MINERALS .... .52 INTRODUCTION CULTURAL RESOURCES .54 I ~HRODUCT I ON . 3 THREATENED OR ENDANGERED SPECIES .55 ESTABLISHMENT HISTORY. 3 LAND USES AND PROTECTION CHAPTER THE AFFECTED SETTING . 4 LAND OCCUPANCIES .. .57 MANAGEMENT OF ADJACENT AREAS 6 FIRE . .59 ADMINISTRATION . 7 INSECTS AND DISEASES .. .60 REVIEW OF RIVER PLAN 7 ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES AND IMPROVEMENTS CHAPTER GOALS TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM .. .63 MANAGEMENT GOALS . 9 MOTORIZED AND MECHANICAL USE .65 RESOURCE CHAPTER MONITORING PROGRAMS. .67 RECREATION RESEARCH . .67 Experience Levels . 11 VISITOR SAFETY .. .69 Recreation Use. .19 SIGNING ...... .70 Carrying Capacity .20 VISITOR INFORMATION SERVICES .79 Dispersed Use .22 BOUNDARY DESCRIPTIONS Developed Facilities. .27 ...........81 BOUNDARY DESCRIPTIONS Development Costs .37 REFERENCES Float Trip Policy .38 REFERENCES .93 FOREST COVER .40 APPENDIX VISUAL RESOURCE MANAGE~E~T .44 APPENDIX A (Wild & Scenic Rivers Act). .95 RANGE. .46 i APPENDIX B (Public Law 95-625) . 107 FISH A;JD 1-:ILDLIFE APPENDIX C (Letter on Energy and Natural Fisheries .48 Resources to Senate) .... 109 \·! i 1d l i f e . .49 Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 4 of 113 11/10/1978 01987 Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 5 of 113 11/10/1978 ' ( ,_ ... ... 01987 en c s: s: )> ::0 -< Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 6 of 113 11/10/1978 01987 - .~ SUMMARY SHEET Recreational River Corridor Wild River Corridor North Fork of the St. Joe Gold Creek Spruce Tree Campground to to to Gold Creek Spruce Tree Campground St. Joe Lake WILDLIFE WILDLIFE FISHERIES RECREATION FISHERIES RECREATION Motorized Access " PRIMARY RECREATION Primitive Access VALUES Day Use Motorized Access Overnight Us~ Developed Facilities Dispersed Overnight Use . VISUAL QUALITY. VISUAL QUALITY Developed Facilities WATER QUALITY WATER QUALITY VISUAL QUALITY WATER QUALITY Management Direction Cutting to enhance Cutting to enhance wildlife No commercial timber harvest FOREST wildlife values values with ir1 corridor COVER Sanitation - salvage cuts Sanitation - salvage cuts i Foreground - retention of Foreground - retention of Classified river corridor - J VISUAL visual quality visual quality preservation 1 QUALITY Middleground - retention of Middleground - retention of Outside corridor - retention of OBJECTIVES visual quality visual quality visual quality Background - partial retention Background - partial retention RECREATION Developed facilities for site Some developed facilities and Minimum of developed facilities protection and user comfort Dispersed overnight camping with Overnight trail use DEVELOP~1ENT Day use facilities Trailhead facilities LEVEL Overnight campgrounds Trail access I ~ TRANS.PORTATI ON Two-lane paved road One-lane improved surface road Existing one-lane ' NETWORK I with turn-Juts dirt road I i Vegetative manipulation to Vegetative manipulation to Natural plant succession I WILDLIFE I enhance wildlife values enhance-- wildlife values -------- ---------- _j - -- -·- 1 Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 7 of 113 11/10/1978 . .( I I I ... ' ~I 01987 -z -1 ::D 0 0 c 0 --1 0z Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 8 of 113 11/10/1978 01987 INTRODUCTION fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar values, shall be preserved in free On November 10, 1978 Congress included the upper flowing condition, and that they and their St. Joe River in the National Wild and Scenic immediate environments shall be protected for Rivfrs System. Tne Congressional act designated the benefit and enjoyment of present and future tne St. Joe River from tne North Fork of the St. generations." Joe to Spruce Tree Campground as a Recreational River, and from Spruce Tree Campground to St. Jce Lake as a Wild River. In 1969 the Forest Service initiated ~he St. Joe River study to determine if the river qualified for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic The purpose of this plan is to provide Congress River System. The Governor of the State of with detailed management information for the Idaho elected to engage in a joint study with administration of the upper St. Joe River, to the Forest Service. Input into the study was serve as a planning framework within which the received from State and Federal agencies, a ten Forest Service will administer the river and its ~ember Public Advisory Committee, and interested resources, and to provide management information citizens. The St. Joe River Study Report pub to interested parties. lished jointly by the State of Idaho and the Forest Service in 1974 concluded that the entire river met the criteria for inclusion into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. ESTABLISHMENT HISTORY The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 esta The Act provides that selected rivers and their blished an initial system of eight Wild and immediate environments be preserved in their Scenic Rivers. In addition, the Act designated free-flowing condition and protected. It also the entire St. Joe River to be studied for provides that if a river is included in the possible inclusion to the National Wild and National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, it shall Scenic Rivers System. be classified and segments designated as follows: The Act states that: "It is hereby declared to Wild river areas - Those rivers or sections be the policy of the United States that certain of rivers that are free of impoundments and selected rivers of the nation, which with their generally inaccessible except by trail, immediate environments, possess outstandingly with watersheds or shorelines essentially remarkable s:enic, recreational, geological, primitive and waters unpolluted. These 3 Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 9 of 113 11/10/1978 01987 represent vestiges of primitive America. THE AFFECTED SETTING Scenic river areas - Those rivers or sec The following account is a brief summary of the tions of rivers that are free of impound existing situation within the St. Joe River ments, with shorelines or watersheds still influence zone. largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads. LOCATION Recreational river areas - Those rivers or The St. Joe River Valley includes an area of sections of rivers that are readily acces 1,886 square miles in Northern Idaho (3). The sible by road or railroad, that may have basin is roughly elliptical in shape with its some development along their shorelines, major axis extending from the Bitterroot Moun and that may have undergone some impound tains, on the Idaho-Montana boundary, westerly ment or diversion in the past. to the mouth of the St. Joe River at Beedle Point in Lake Coeur d'Alene, an elevation of 2,110 (MSL). The source of the river is St. Joe Lake at an elevation of 6,460 feet (MSL). The The Final Environmental Statement on the St. Joe river flows westerly from St. Joe Lake 132.1 River prepared by the Forest Service and the miles, traversing 99.8 miles of Shoshone County, State of Idaho recommended that the upper 72.8 32.2 miles of Benewah County and 0.1 mile of miles of the St. Joe River, from the boundary of Kootenai County, all in Idaho. the St. Joe National Forest to St. Joe Lake, be included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. ~ WATER QUALITY On November 10, 1978, Congress passed Public Law The ~ater quality of the St. Joe watershed is 95-625 designating the St. Joe River from the good. The entire river exceeds state and national North Fork of the St. Joe to Spruce Tree Camp standards for primary contact recreation sports ground (39.7 miles) as a Recreational River and such as swimming. The water is well suited for the segment from Spruce Tree Campground to St. domestic, industrial, agricultural and recreation Joe Lake (26.6 miles) as a Wild River. uses. Prior to completion of the Management Plan, public inputs were requested and received. The contact plan and subsequent responses are avail able at the Forest Supervisor's office. 4 Vladimir Steblina/Ralph Kizer Page 10 of 113 11/10/1978 01987 Waste discharge into the upper river is minimal. from 1960-1970. Growth in the rest of the basin Forms of pollution which occur, but have not is static or declining slightly (23).