Protecting Wild Idaho

Home , Big Jacks Creek, Owyhee River, Sawtooth Wilderness

Protecting wild Idaho

n 1927: Harry Shellworth of years and involving 18 public North America. Boise-Payette Lumber Com- hearings. Wilderness, n pany leads a hunting party, 1978: Gospel-Hump Wilder- n including Idaho governor 1963: Forest Service des- ness created. 205,769 acres. the act Clarence Baldridge, into cen- ignates 216,000 acre Salm- East of Riggins and Lucile, the tral Idaho’s backcountry. on River Breaks Primitive northern portion of the area “Campfire conversations” Area which would eventually is glacial divide between the and crystallized the need to per- become part of the River of No Salmon River and the South manently protect the vast Return Wilderness, but deletes Fork of the Clearwater. To the Idaho backcountry. over 400,000 acres from the south, it is more broken as it Selway-Bitterroot. This reflects falls into the Salmon River. n 1931: The U.S. Forest Ser- the growing emphasis on tim- vice designates the 1.1 million ber harvesting within the For- n 1980: Frank Church-River of Coeur d’ Alene acre Central Idaho Primitive est Service, and demonstrates No Return Wilderness created. Area, forerunner of the River the need to secure more per- 2.366 million acres. The larg- of No Return Wilderness. manent wilderness protection est unbroken wilderness in the through an act of Congress. lower 48, the Frank is known n 1936: Forest Service desig- for its wild rivers and rich his- nates the 1.8 million acre Sel- n Sept. 3, 1964: President Lyn- tory inside Idaho?s wild gran- way-Bitterroot Primitive Area, don B. Johnson signs the Wil- ite heart. largest primitive area in coun- derness Act into law. It creates try at that time and forerunner the National Wilderness Pres- n 2009: President Barack of the Selway-Bitterroot Wil- ervation System, a mechanism Obama signs a bill to protect derness Area. to set aside wild areas. 2 million acres of wilderness n 1937: Forest Service n 1964: Selway-Bitterroot Wil- across the country, including designates 200,000 derness created. 1.34 million 516,517 acres in southwestern Moscow acre Sawtooth acres. The third-largest wilder- Idaho. Primitive Area, ness in the lower 48, it stretch- The six different wilderness forerunner of the es from the Montana border to areas are Big Jacks Creek, Sawtooth Wilder- near Elk City. Elevation ranges the Bruneau-Jarbidge Riv- ness Area. from 1,600 feet to 10,157. ers, Little Jacks Creek, North Lewiston Fork Owyhee, Owyhee River n 1956: How- n 1970: Craters of the Moon and Pole Creek. It is “a land National Wilderness Area cre- SELWAY- ard Zahniser of defined by rivers, cutting steep the Wilderness ated. 43,243 acres. Eighteen canyons out of high desert, Society writes miles southwest of Arco, it is sagebrush plateaus. It’s also a BITTERROOT Idaho’s most distinctive wilder- the first draft of landscape of no trails and only ness area because of its vast n 1964 the Wilderness rough roads to gain access to GOSPEL lava flows, cinder cones and Act. The propos- empty, open land,” according al is rewritten ice caves. to wilderness.net. HUMP 65 times in nine n 1972: Sawtooth Wilderness n n 1978 created. 217,088 acres. South- Today: Through the Wilder- west of Stanley, it is home to ness Act, there are 109.5 mil- 42 peaks that top 10,000 feet. lion acres of land designated It is also home to more than as wilderness. There are wil- 100 alpine lakes. derness areas in 44 states. Five percent of the land in the Unit- FRANK n 1975: Hells Canyon Wilder- ed States is protected as wil- CHURCH- ness created. 218,019 acres. derness. Most of the coun- Split between Idaho and try’s wilderness is in Alsaska. HELLS RIVER Oregon, the Idaho side Idaho ranks fourth in the total Salmon includes the Seven Dev- amount of wilderness acreage. CANYON OF NO ils Mountains and the deepest canyon in n 1975 RETURN Sources: The Wilderness Society, wilderness.net n 1980

SAWTOOTH n 1972

Boise Idaho Falls Nampa LITTLE JACKS CREEK NORTH FORK WILDERNESS CRATERS OF OWYHEE n 2009 THE MOON n WILDERNESS 1970 Pocatello n 2009 BIG JACKS CREEK WILDERNESS n 2009

BRUNEAU-JARBIDGE RIVERS WILDERNESS n 2009

OWYHEE RIVER POLE CREEK Around Yellowstone Rocks Lakes, Lee Metcalf, Absa- roka-Beartooth, North Absaroka, WILDERNESS WILDERNESS In addition to Idaho’s 12 wil- Washakie, Teton, Jedediah Smith and n 2009 n 2009 derness areas, there are a number Gros Ventre. Combined they encom- in Wyoming and Montana, includ- pass 3.31 million areas of land, which ing eight that surround Yellow- is a third larger than the 2.22 million Percentage of acres designated as wilderness stone National Park. They are Red acre Yellowstone National Park.

Lee .28% .23% 5.81% Metcalf Absaroka- Beartooth

Red Rocks Lakes Yellowstone North Absaroka .5% 3.78% Washakie Jedediah Teton 15.7% Smith Gros Ventre Sources: National Outdoor Leadership School, wilderness.net Graphic by Stephen Templeton / [email protected]