ezez PercePerce ~~ClearwaterClearwater National N Forests VISITOR GUIDE Where Wild Country Meets Wild Rivers Split Creek Bridge on the Lochsa River (Morai Helfen) he Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests What’s Inside Tin north central Idaho begin in the jagged peaks of the Bitterroot Mountains and flow Get to Know Us........................... 2 to the deep canyons of the Salmon, Selway Scenic Byways .......................... 4 and Lochsa Rivers. Broad coniferous forests Historic Roads & Trails.............. 5 stretch from the rolling hills of the Palouse Wild & Scenic Rivers ................ 6 Wilderness .................................7 Plateau to the Camas Prairie. Salmon River ............................. 8 Map ........................................... 10 Nez Perce drummer The forests are home to an extravagant Activities ...................................12 array of wildlife, from the strutting grouse Winter Recreation ...................... 16 More Activities ................................ 17 to the stately bighorn sheep; golden eagles Wildlife ......................................18 soar above; river otters glide through waters Know Before You Go................. 19 below. Blue ribbon fisheries lure anglers, Contact Information & Fees.... 20 (Cindy Schacher) Camas Fun Forest Facts while backcountry pack trails beckon hunters. Visitors enjoy activities year-round— motorized and non-motorized, on rivers and mountaintops. For the Acres: 4 million Longest Trail: The Nez Perce more adventurous, the untrammeled land of Wilderness provides National Historic Trail stretches recreation opportunities while preserving natural landscapes into 1,170 miles crossing Oregon, perpetuity. Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming Deepest Gorge: The Snake River/ Hells Canyon and the Salmon As the traditional homeland of the Nez Perce Tribe, the forests River Canyon are deeper than the value their history, culture, and knowledge of the land, while Grand Canyon conserving the resources of this special place for all people. This Visitor Guide will help you make the most of your Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests experience. You may also visit us at www.fs.usda.gov/nezperceclearwater. G et to Know Us Our Past The Nez Perce The Forest Civilian Service and Fire President Roosevelt visiting a The Nez Perce National Forest proudly gets its name from the people who have called this place home for Conservation Corps CCC camp, 1933 (© NARA) thousands of generations: the Nez Perce. The Nez Perce call themselves Nimiipuu (“The People”), but French The land of the Nez Perce- trappers who traded with the Nimiipuu mistakenly believed they pierced their noses—a practice of a Clearwater National Forests is “Through you the nation will graduate a neighboring tribe—and called them Nez Perce which is French for “pierced nose.” solidly rooted in fire. Many fine group of strong young men, clean-living, trained to self- fire management programs discipline and, above all, willing and proved to work for the joy Although Nez Perce leaders ceded much of the Tribe’s original territory to the United States in the 1855 in the Forest Service evolved The Three Forks Ranger Station of working.” and 1863 Treaties, they did not relinquish rights to hunt, fish and gather, or to practice traditional religious from the 1910 fires (and their survived the fires of 1910 (President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933) and cultural ceremonies on these ancestral homelands. Today the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests aftermath) in this part of the country. manage much of the Nez Perce Tribe’s ceded territory. Nez Perce people still maintain strong ties with their homeland and work cooperatively with the Forest Service as stewards of forest resources. As the country suffered the Great Depression, President Franklin Historically, wildland fires in northern Idaho were of mixed- Roosevelt proposed a program as part of the New Deal to provide severity with fire-free periods ranging from 30 to 100 years. Albert Walters of the Nez conservation jobs on rural lands owned by federal, state, and local In addition to their strong government-to-government Perce Tribe, 1901 (Nez Perce With settlement however, human-caused fires increased governments. Thus, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was born, relationship, the Forest Service and Nez Perce Tribe also National Historical Trail Park, dramatically. Large damaging fires occurred in the later part Smithsonian Collection) destined to become the most popular experiment of the New Deal. boast a nationally recognized watershed of the 1800s and early 1900s, prompting the development restoration partnership. Since 1997, of wildland fire suppression programs. Smokejumpers made By 1942, it had the Nez Perce Tribe and Nez Perce- their very first jump on the Nez Perce National Forest in 1940, employed over two Clearwater National Forests have proving that fire could be fought in the most remote and million workers— completed dozens of projects throughout rugged landscapes. unmarried men the forest, such as riparian and grazing between 18 and 25. Each enrollee was paid area improvements, tree planting, However, the fish and aquatic organism habitat $30 a month, $25 of suppression of all which was sent to his improvements, road sedimentation Nez Perce fires—natural and family. The government reduction, and many others. dancer at the Nez Perce women, circa 1910 (Nez Perce National Chief Looking human-caused— provided room, board, Historic Trail, Cecil Carter Collection) Glass Pow Wow disrupted the historic clothing, and tools. (Morai Helfen) fire behavior and forest CCC trucks near the Crevice ecosystem. Fire is one on the Salmon River, 1935 of the most important ining for Gold—The Story of Florence in Wildfire Heather Larkin Pioneer Mallard Area, 2010 natural agents of Each man was taught M change, and some a new skill and The story of Florence is seldom told and few visitors are even ecosystems depend on periodic fires to attended classes to better his education. aware the site exists. Driving through the area today (in the maintain their habitats. The enrollees mountains north of the Salmon River), one can hardly tell learned first hand there once existed a thriving mining community. The Forest Service still fights fire— the philosophy of especially to protect communities and conservation of our In August of 1861, gold was discovered in the creeks and the resources people need—but we national resources for gulches around the Florence Basin and miners soon began also use fire under controlled the public good. trickling into the area. What started as a small tent city conditions to promote healthier, sustainable forest and The Lewiston with 50 residents grew into a bustling city of 9,000 by the CCC camp along the Lolo Motorway, 1932 following year, boasting a sawmill, 10 butcher shops, 7 grassland ecosystems. District of the CCC bakeries, 8 lawyers, 6 gambling saloons, a few “hole-in- worked on land in the New Florence, 1896 (Idaho State Wylies Peak Lookout, built Clearwater, St. Joe, Nez Perce, Selway, and part of the Umatilla the-wall doggeries,” a dance house, Masonic Hall, and a jail. in 1925; destroyed by Getting a Historical Society) National Forests. By the fall of 1935, 13 camps were operating in Florence’s riches also attracted ruffians like the infamous lightning in 1983 smokejumper (Art Seamans) lesson the district. Their main projects included blister rust eradication, highwayman Cherokee Bob (a pal of the legendary outlaw wildfire suppression, road construction, telegraph line construction, Henry Plummer) and it quickly gained the reputation of being dam building, and soil terracing. one of the roughest towns in the west. For a brochure about Lookout Legacies Florence, visit For a brochure about CCCs on the forest, visit: www.fs.usda.gov/ www.fs.usda.gov/ After the fires of 1910, fire control nezperceclearwater; select Maps, then Brochures. nezperceclearwater; Cherokee Bob’s became the main priority of the select Maps, then headstone, circa 1935 young Forest Service. Nearly 450 Brochures. (RG Bailey lookouts were built on high mountain Protect Our Past For Our Future Book, River of peaks of the Nez Perce-Clearwater No Return) National Forests—150 of which are still standing. Many are available for Prehistoric and historic sites and artifacts Florence dredge overnight rental, giving visitors an are irreplaceable resources that provide ponds, 2011 clues and understanding of our collective (Cindy Schacher) opportunity to exerience first-hand a bit of fire lookout history. (See page 15 for heritage. It is illegal to damage sites or to more information.) remove artifacts. 2 3 R oads & Trails Along the Lolo Motorway (Morai Helfen) Scenic Byways Historic Roads and Trails Northwest Passage Scenic Idaho State Lolo Trail National Historic Idaho State Highways 13 and 14 Byway-All American Road Landmark Corridor Highway 95 The Nez Perce traveled through the South Fork of the For millions of years water has carved its path, creating a Clearwater River corridor on their seasonal migration from An immensely diverse The history of this land is felt in the wind as it stirs ancient narrow canyon for the Lochsa River. US Highway 12 now the Camas Prairie in Idaho to the Bitterroot Valley in Montana. landscape, the country of memories of travel, trade, discovery—and the terror of the parallels the Lochsa, lined by conifers and rock outcroppings. The route, known as the Southern Nez Perce Trail, was later the Highway 95 corridor 1877 Nez Perce Flight. A sense