St. Joe River Management Plan, Idaho

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ~::JLTURE FOREST SERVICE ST. JOE WILD AND SCENIC RIVE~, :JAHO Notice of Management and Develo:rent Plan The following is the proposed plan ~ develop ment, operation, and management of t~e St. Joe Wild and Scenic River administered =/ the Forest Service in accordance with Public La~ 93-542. ?rior to development public incu:s ~5re obtained. The plan is available for public re;ie~ and comment at the following Forest ~~":e offices: Forest Service Division of Recreation Agriculture Building Washington, D.C. 2025C Forest Service Northern Region Federal Building Missoula, Montana 5980: Forest Service Forest Supervisor's Off C~ Idaho Panhandle Nationa =:rests Coeur d'Alene, Idaho : ; The plan shall take effect 90 days ~r,m the date of publication of this notice. Sincerely yours, ~1AX PETERSON, Chief U.S. Forest Service TABLE OF CONTENTS .. Paqe Page SUMMARY WATER QUALITY. .51 SUMMARY SHEET ............... 1 NERALS . .52 INTRODUCTION CULTURAL RESOURCES. .54 I NTRODUCT ION . 3 THREATENED OR ENDANGERED SPECIES .55 ESTABLISHMENT HISTORY. 3 LAND USES AND PROTECTION CHAPTER THE AFFECTED SETTING . 4 LAND OCCUPANCIES . " MANAGEMENT OF ADJACENT AREAS 6 FIRE . .59 NISTRATION ... 7 INSECTS AND DISEASES .60 REVIEW OF RIVER PLAN 7 INISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES IMPROVEMENTS CHAPTER GOALS TRANSPORTATI SYSTEM. .63 i'lANAGEi~ENT GOALS . 9 MOTORIZED MECHANICAL USE .65 RESOURCE CHAPTER ITORING PROGRAMS. .67 RECREATI RESEARCH . .67 Experience Levels .11 VISITOR SAFETY ... .69 Recreation Use .. .19 SIGNI .70 Carrying Capacity .20 VISITOR INFORMATION SERVICES .79 Dispersed Use .. .22 BOUNDARY DESCRIPTIONS Developed Facilities. .27 BOUNDARY DESCRIPTIONS ...........81 Development Costs .37 REFERENCES Float Trip Policy .. .38 REFERENCES .93 FOREST COVER . .40 APPENDIX VISUAL RESOURCE MANAGE~E~T APPENDIX A (Wild &Scenic Rivers Act). .95 .46 APPENDIX B (Public Law 95-625) . 107 FISH A:JD \.;ILDLIFE APPENDIX C (Letter on Energy and Natural Fisheries .48 Resources to Senate) . 109 \.! ild 1 i f e. .49 · ..f ," • " , . 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 ,. PRIMARY Motorized Access RECREATION Primitive Access VALUES Day Use Motorized Access Overnight Use Developed Facilities Dispersed Overnight Use -·NISUAL QUALITY:" VISUAL QUALITY Developed Facilities -WATER QUALITY WATER QUALITY VI SUAL QUAL ITY WATER QUALITY Management Direction Cutting to enhance Cutting to enhance wildlife No commercial timber harvest FOREST wildl ife values values within corridor COVER Sanitation - salvage cuts Sanitation - salvage cuts Foreground - retention of Foreground - retention of Classified river corridor VISUAL visual qual ity visual quality preservation 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 Mini~um of developed facilities DEVELOp~'nn protection and user comfort Dispersed overnight camping with Overnight trail use LEVEL Day use facilities Trailhead facilities Overnight campgrounds Two-lane paved road Trail access TRANS'PORTATI ON One-lane improved surface road NETWORK Existing one-lane '" with turn-Juts dirt road Vegetative manipulation to Vegetative manipulation to Natural plant succession WILDLIFE enhance wildlife values enhance wildlife values 1 Z --I oJJ o c () --I '0- z INTRODUCTION fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other simi 1ar 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 the St. Joe River from the 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 inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic is to provide ver System, The Governor of the State of with detailed t information for 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 member 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 tem of eight Wild 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 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 scenic, recreational, geological, primitive and waters unpolluted. These 3 · represent vestiges of primitive Ameri ca. THE AFFECTED SETTING Scenic river areas - Those rivers or sec following account is a bri summary of tions of rivers that are free of impound existing situation within the St. Joe River ments, with shore1 ines or watersheds sti 11 infl uence zone. largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but access ibl e in p1 aces by roads. LOCATION Recreational river areas - Those rivers or The St. Joe River Valley includes an area of se.ctions of rivers that are readily acces 1,886 square miles in Northern Idaho (3). The si bl e by road or rail road, that may have basin is roughly elliptical in shape with its some development along theJr shorelines., major axis extending from the Bitterroot Moun and that may have undergone some impound tains, on the Idaho-~1ontana 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 1 .1 ver 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 miTes 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 NatiBna1 Forest to St. Joe Lake, be includ.ed in t.he National \-lild and Scenic Rivers System. '~ WATER QUAL 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 ~xceeds state and national North Fork o·f the St. Joe to Spruce Tree Camp standards for primary contact recreation sports ground (39.7 miles.) as a Recreational River and such as swimmi.ng. 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 \·Jaste 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). .. been well quantified, include those resulting recreation use, road building and log handling on the river. Recent environmental Employment is heavily dependent on the timber protection laws provide guidance for lessening industry with up to 90 percent of the economy of the impact of these activities. the valley being derived either directly or indirectly from that industry.(14) LAND ECONOMICS The St. Joe River basin is located in the northern Rocky Mountain physiographic province, charac Timber. recreation, and agriculture are the terized by high mountains and deep, steeply. three major economic factors in the valley. walled intermountain valleys. The canyon of the Approximately 330 million board feet come out of St. Joe River is in the early stages of maturity. the St. Joe Basin each year. In 1972 about This is typified by steep canyon walls and $26,100,000 was paid for timber stumpage, wages· ittle flood plain development in the upper and salaries (14). This compares to approxi portion of the drainage. mately $842,000 spent by recreationists along the river (2). Most soils within the St. Joe Valley are com posed of a layer of fine wind deposited soil (loess) overlying residual material derived from WATER DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS parent bedrock. There are no dams or diversions on the upper St. Joe River or its tributaries. PEOPLE , In 1970 there were 6,135 people residing in the LAND OWNERSHIP St. Joe basin. The population is centered in ~ the cities, primarily in and around St. Maries. The upper half of the St.

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