Bitterroot National Forest comprises 1.587 million acres (6,423 km²) in west-central
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
and eastern
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
, of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is located primarily in
Ravalli County, Montana
Ravalli County is a county in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,174. Its county seat is Hamilton.
Ravalli County is part of a north–south mountain valley bordered by the Sapphir ...
(70.26% of the forest), but also has acreage in
Idaho County, Idaho
Idaho County is a county in the U.S. state of Idaho, and the largest by area in the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,541. The county seat is Grangeville. Previous county seats of the area were Florence (1864–68), Washingto ...
(29.24%), and
Missoula County, Montana
Missoula County is located in the State of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 117,922, making it Montana's third-most populous county. Its county seat and largest city is Missoula. The county was founded in 1860.
Missoula Cou ...
(0.49%).
Founded in 1898, the forest is located in the
Bitterroot
Bitterroot (''Lewisia rediviva'') is a small perennial herb in the family Montiaceae. Its specific epithet ("revived, reborn") refers to its ability to regenerate from dry and seemingly dead roots.
The genus ''Lewisia'' was moved in 2009 fro ...
and
Sapphire Mountains
The Sapphire Mountains are a range of mountains located in southwestern Montana in the northwestern United States. From a point near the Clark Fork River and the city of Missoula, they run in a southerly direction for a distance of approximately ...
with
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
s ranging from 2,200 feet (650 m) along the
Salmon River in Idaho to 10,157 foot (3,100 m) Trapper Peak. Roughly half the forest (743,000 acres, 3,000 km²) make up part or all of three distinct
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
areas. These areas include the
Anaconda-Pintler,
Selway-Bitterroot and
Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
Cur ...
es. The distinction is that in wilderness areas, no
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
s,
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
,
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
or other
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
is permitted and all access must be done either on foot or
horseback; even
bicycles
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
are not permitted.
Hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
, however is allowed forest-wide including wilderness areas.
History
The
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...
passed through parts of what are now forest lands in 1805. After the discovery of
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
in Idaho and then Montana in the 1860s, numerous mining towns were built, some of which today are
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
s. The
Nez Perce National Historic Trail
The Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail follows the route taken by a large group of the Nez Perce tribe in 1877 to avoid being forced onto a reservation. The 1,170-mile (1,883 km) trail was created in 1986 as part of the National ...
passes through a portion of the forest, following the route of the retreating
Nez Perce
The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...
on their historic path that led from Idaho to north central Montana in 1877. Heavy logging and other
resource depletion
Resource depletion is the consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and non-renewable resources (see also mineral resource classification). Use of either ...
beginning in the 1880s led
conservationists to push for the preservation of the forest.
The Bitter Root Forest Reserve was established by the
General Land Office
The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department o ...
on March 1, 1898 with . It was transferred to the
U.S. Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
in 1906. On July 1, 1908 the name was changed to Bitterroot National Forest, with lands added from
Big Hole National Forest Big Hole National Forest was established as the Big Hole Forest Reserve by the U.S. Forest Service in Montana and Idaho on November 5, 1906 with . It became a National Forest on March 4, 1907. On July 1, 1908 Big Hole was divided between Beaverh ...
and
Hell Gate National Forest. Other lands were transferred from Bitterroot to
Beaverhead,
Clearwater Clearwater or Clear Water may refer to:
Places Canada
* Clear Water Academy, a private Catholic school located in Calgary, Alberta
* Clearwater (provincial electoral district), a former provincial electoral district in Alberta
* Clearwater, Briti ...
,
Nez Perce
The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...
and
Salmon National Forest
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus ''Oncorhynchus' ...
s. On October 29, 1934 part of
Selway National Forest Selway National Forest was established by the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho on July 1, 1911 with from parts of Clearwater National Forest and Nez Perce National Forest. On October 29, 1934 the entire forest was divided between Bitterroot, Clearwate ...
was added.
In August 2016,
a wildfire burnt down fourteen houses.
Wildlife
The forest is home to many species of wildlife species including
mule deer
The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer.
Unlike the related whit ...
,
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
,
elk
The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
,
bighorn sheep
The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...
,
mountain goat
The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ...
,
gopher
Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They are ...
, a variety of
chipmunk
Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia.
Taxonomy and systematics
Chipmunks may be classified either as ...
s,
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
,
porcupine
Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...
,
woodchuck
The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots.
The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through mu ...
,
rabbit
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
s, a variety of
squirrel
Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...
s,
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...
,
black bear
Black bear or Blackbear may refer to:
Animals
* American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species
* Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species
Music
* Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...
, and
cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...
in addition to many varieties of birds.
Composition
The forest is a combination of both
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...
s and forested zones.
Grazing rights
Grazing rights is the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed (graze) in a given area.
United States
Grazing rights have never been codified in United States law, because such common-law rights derive from the English concept of the ...
are leased to private landowners in the lower
altitude
Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...
s where grasses and shrublands are dominant. Higher up,
Douglas fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
,
larch
Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...
, and
lodgepole pine
''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, ...
slowly give way to
Engelmann Spruce
''Picea engelmannii'', with the common names Engelmann spruce, white spruce, mountain spruce, and silver spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America. It is mostly a high-altitude mountain tree but also appears in watered canyon ...
and
whitebark pine
''Pinus albicaulis'', known by the common names whitebark pine, white bark pine, white pine, pitch pine, scrub pine, and creeping pine, is a conifer tree native to the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically subalpine ...
as the altitude increases. Above the treeline at 8,000 feet (2,400 m) the trees abruptly end and
alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
flowers and grasses are found. A small
grizzly
The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...
bear population is located in the wilderness zones of the forest with black bear, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, elk and moose found all over this forest. An active effort to reintroduce the grizzly bear to the region concluded in 2000 with a plan to release 25 bears into the wilderness zones over a five-year period beginning in 2003.
There are 1,600 mi (2,500 km) of trails and 18 improved campgrounds within the forest. Outstanding fishing is found in the dozens of rivers and streams and lakes. The forest headquarters is located in
Hamilton, Montana
Hamilton is a city that serves as the county seat of Ravalli County, Montana, United States. The population was 4,659 at the 2020 census.
History
Hamilton was founded by copper king Marcus Daly in the late 19th century. It was named for J.W. H ...
. There are local
ranger
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
district offices in
Darby,
Stevensville, and
Sula. The largest nearby city is
Missoula, Montana
Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...
. The scenic
Blodgett Canyon
Blodgett Canyon is located in southwestern Montana in the northwestern United States. It is one of more than two dozen scenic canyons deeply carved into the eastern flanks of the Bitterroot Range in Bitterroot National Forest. Starting from a gr ...
is but one of many steep canyons located in the forest. U.S. Highway
93 passes through portions of the forest.
Wilderness areas
There are three officially designated
wilderness area
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
s in Bitterroot National Forest that are part of the
National Wilderness Preservation System
The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the Na ...
. All of them, however, lie mostly in neighboring National Forests (or in
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
land), as indicated.
*
Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness (partly in
Beaverhead NF,
Deerlodge NF)
*
Frank Church—River of No Return Wilderness
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
Cur ...
(partly in
Payette NF,
Challis NF,
Salmon NF,
Boise NF,
Nez Perce NF, or on BLM land)
*
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness (partly in Nez Perce NF,
Clearwater NF,
Lolo NF)
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness acreage breakdown, Wilderness.net
/ref>
Unprotected roadless areas
Much of the forest outside of designated wilderness areas is still roadless and undeveloped. In addition to roadless acreage adjacent to designated wildernesses, a large roadless area 164,000 acres in size (as of 1992) and straddling the Montana-Idaho state line exists just west of Lost Trail Pass
Lost Trail Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of the northwestern United States, on the border of Idaho and Montana in the Bitterroot Mountains. The pass is at an elevation of above sea level and is traversed by U.S. Highway 93.
The ...
. This area, named for 9,154' Allan Mountain (in Idaho), lies mostly in Montana and is critical to the migration of wildlife between the wildlands of central Idaho Central Idaho is a geographical term for the region located northeast of Boise and southeast of Lewiston in the U.S. state of Idaho. It is dominated by federal lands administered by the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Managemen ...
and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is one of the last remaining large, nearly intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone of the Earth. It is located within the northern Rocky Mountains, in areas of northwestern Wyoming, southwestern Mo ...
. The Allan Mountain area is a lower-elevation part of the Bitterroot Range
The Bitterroot Range is a mountain range and a subrange of the Rocky Mountains that runs along the border of Montana and Idaho in the northwestern United States. The range spans an area of and is named after the bitterroot (''Lewisia rediviva' ...
that features extensive coniferous forests, steep canyons, and pockets of old-growth
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
ponderosa pine
''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...
and Douglas-fir. Within the area is Overwhich Falls, a popular attraction; hiker's gentian (gentianopsis simplex
''Gentianopsis simplex'' is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family known by the common name oneflower fringed gentian. It is native to the western United States, where it is most common in moist mountain habitats. This is an annual h ...
) and primrose monkey flower ( mimulus primuloides), sensitive plants, are found here in wet meadows. Elk, black bear, mountain goat, pine marten
The European pine marten (''Martes martes''), also known as the pine marten, is a mustelid native to and widespread in most of Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and parts of Iran, Iraq and Syria. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. ...
, and pileated woodpecker
The pileated woodpecker (''Dryocopus pileatus'') is a large, mostly black woodpecker native to North America. An insectivore, it inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the ...
are residents.
Further reading
* Swanson, Frederick H. ''The Bitterroot and Mr. Brandborg: Clearcutting and the Struggle for Sustainable Forestry in the Northern Rockies'' ( University of Utah Press, 2011).
See also
* 2000–2001 fires in the Western United States
* 2016 Nevada wildfire
* Bitterroot Mountains
The Northern and Central Bitterroot Range, collectively the Bitterroot Mountains (Salish: čkʷlkʷqin), is the largest portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains and Idaho Batholith, located in the panhandle of Idaho and west ...
* List of forests in Montana
Based on the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, there are at least 20 named National and State Forests in Montana. In addition to currently named forests, there are at least 22 former named forests that have been consolidated into current forest land ...
References
External links
Bitterroot National Forest
- U.S. Forest Service
USGS Gird Point (MT) Topo Map
- TopoQuest.com
Bitterroot National Forest Recreation
{{authority control
Protected areas of Idaho County, Idaho
Protected areas of Missoula County, Montana
National Forests of Idaho
National Forests of Montana
National Forests of the Rocky Mountains
Protected areas of Ravalli County, Montana
Protected areas established in 1898
1898 establishments in Montana
1898 establishments in Idaho