The North Fork Clearwater River is a major tributary of the
Clearwater River in the
U.S.
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 territori ...
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
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 ...
.
From its headwaters in the
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 ...
of eastern Idaho, it flows
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
accessed May 3, 2011 westward and is dammed by the
Dworshak Dam
Dworshak Dam is a concrete gravity dam in the western United States, on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in north central Idaho. In Clearwater County, the dam is located approximately northwest of Orofino and impounds the Dwor ...
just above its mouth in north-central Idaho. Draining a rugged watershed of , the river has an average flow of over , accounting for a third of the discharge from the Clearwater basin.
The river drains parts of
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 ...
,
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
* Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming
* Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho
* Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah
* Goshute: western Utah, easter ...
,
Latah
Latah is a condition in which abnormal behaviors result from a person experiencing a sudden shock or other external stressor almost exclusively having been observed in persons from Southeast Asia. When induced, the affected person typically engag ...
, and
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 ...
counties. Most of the watershed is managed by 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 ...
. Some of the fish of the river include
westslope cutthroat trout
The westslope cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi''), also known as the black-spotted trout, common cutthroat trout and red-throated trout is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'') and is a freshwater fish in t ...
,
rainbow trout
The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...
,
mountain whitefish
The mountain whitefish (''Prosopium williamsoni'') is one of the most widely distributed salmonid fish of western North America. It is found from the Mackenzie River drainage in Northwest Territories, Canada south through western Canada and t ...
, and the threatened
bull trout
The bull trout (''Salvelinus confluentus'') is a char of the family Salmonidae native to northwestern North America. Historically, ''S. confluentus'' has been known as the " Dolly Varden" (''S. malma''), but was reclassified as a separate specie ...
. It also has
smallmouth bass and a
kokanee salmon
The kokanee salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also known as the kokanee trout, little redfish, silver trout, kikanning, Kennerly's salmon, Kennerly's trout, or Walla, is the non-anadromous form of the sockeye salmon (meaning that they do not migrat ...
run, both from
Dworshak Reservoir
Dworshak Dam is a concrete gravity dam in the western United States, on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in north central Idaho. In Clearwater County, the dam is located approximately northwest of Orofino and impounds the Dwor ...
. The North Fork drainage is home to
grizzly bears
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 ...
,
cougars
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...
,
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
grey wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
, and
osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
. The river used to have a large
steelhead
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and N ...
run before the implementation of
Dworshak Dam
Dworshak Dam is a concrete gravity dam in the western United States, on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in north central Idaho. In Clearwater County, the dam is located approximately northwest of Orofino and impounds the Dwor ...
. The North Fork of the Clearwater is located within the
Clearwater National Forest
Clearwater National Forest with headquarters on the Nez Perce Reservation at Kamiah is located in North Central Idaho in the northwestern United States. The forest is bounded on the east by the state of Montana, on the north by the Idaho Panhandl ...
Course
It rises in the
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 ...
, which form the far eastern border of the
State of 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 Wyomi ...
, on the
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 ...
-
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 ...
border. The headwaters are on the south flank of the triple summits of Graves Peak, Illinois Peak and Gold Crown Peak, very near St. Joe Lake, the head waters of the
St. Joe River, which flows into
Coeur d'Alene Lake
Lake Coeur d'Alene, officially Coeur d'Alene Lake ( ), is a natural dam-controlled lake in North Idaho, located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. At its northern end is the city of Coeur d'Alene. It spans in length and range ...
. The river immediately flows southwest through a narrow gorge, joined by numerous small tributaries. The river turns southeast to join with Long Creek and Lake Creek, which flow in from the east. After joining these two large creeks, the river turns west, then receives Elizabeth Creek from the right as it veers to the south. Then it turns sharply west into a wider valley, where it receives its largest tributary thus far, Kelly Creek, from the left near an unincorporated community, and turns west and southwest, paralleled by Forest Service Road #250. It then receives 4 July Creek from the left, Weitas Creek from the left, Orogrande Creek from the left and Quartz Creek from the right.
Flowing northeast then swinging back west, the river receives Skull Creek from the northeast just downstream of the Quartz Creek confluence. Beaver Creek enters from the south and Isabella Creek from the north. With high buttes towering to the north and comparatively gradual mountains rising on the south, the river enters
Dworshak Reservoir
Dworshak Dam is a concrete gravity dam in the western United States, on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in north central Idaho. In Clearwater County, the dam is located approximately northwest of Orofino and impounds the Dwor ...
, formed by the massive
Dworshak Dam
Dworshak Dam is a concrete gravity dam in the western United States, on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in north central Idaho. In Clearwater County, the dam is located approximately northwest of Orofino and impounds the Dwor ...
. About later, the flooded canyon meets the canyon of the Little North Fork Clearwater River on the right, which is also flooded for some distance. Still narrow and winding, following the river's original course, the reservoir branches to the south and spreads wider as it enters more gradual terrain. Reeds Creek and Elk Creek, formerly major tributaries of the river, now flow directly into the lake. The reservoir then ends at the Dworshak Dam, a high concrete gravity dam. Below the dam the river runs southeast for a little over a mile, crosses under Idaho State Route 7, and meets the Clearwater River at
Ahsahka.
[
]
Watershed
The North Fork Clearwater's watershed covers of land in the lower Idaho Panhandle
The Idaho Panhandle—locally known as North Idaho—is a salient region of the U.S. state of Idaho encompassing the state's 10 northernmost counties: Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, and Shosh ...
. The watershed is approximately 26.6 percent of the Clearwater River watershed, itself a tributary of the Snake River
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...
. The drainage area of the St. Joe River abuts the North Fork drainage to the north, Latah Creek
Latah Creek ( ), also known as Hangman Creek, is a large stream in eastern Washington and north central Idaho in the United States. The creek flows northwest from the Rocky Mountains to Spokane, where it empties into the Spokane River. It drains ...
to the northeast, the Middle Fork Clearwater to the east and south, the South Fork Clearwater and Snake River to the south, and the Potlatch River
The Potlatch River is in the state of Idaho in the United States. About long, it is the lowermost major tributary to the Clearwater River, a tributary of the Snake River that is in turn a tributary of the Columbia River. Once surrounded by a ...
and Clearwater to the west. The basin is very lightly populated - the largest and only incorporated town is Elk River, Idaho, population 149. The 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 ...
industry makes up the primary economy of the North Fork's watershed.
The major tributaries to the North Fork Clearwater River are (proceeding downstream) Kelly Creek, the Little North Fork Clearwater River, and Elk Creek.
On average, streamflow in the North Fork is approximately , ranging from to over .
The USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
operated a stream gauge near the mouth of the river from 1927 to 1968. In that time period, the highest recorded flow was on December 23, 1933. The lowest peak was on 18 May 1941.
Graphs for peak discharge at this site
/ref>
See also
*List of Idaho rivers
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Idaho.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name.
Pacific Ocean
*''Columbia River (WA)''
**Snake River
***Palouse ...
*List of longest streams of Idaho
A total of seventy streams that are at least long flow through the U.S. state of Idaho. All of these streams originate in the United States except the Kootenai River (third-longest) and the Moyie River (thirty-first-longest), both of which beg ...
References
Works cited
*Benke, Arthur C.; Cushing, Colbert E. (2005). ''Rivers of North America.'' Academic Press. .
*Robbins, Chuck (2003). ''On the Fly Guide to the Northern Rockies.'' Wilderness Adventures Press. .
{{authority control
Rivers of Idaho
Tributaries of the Snake River
Rivers of Shoshone County, Idaho
Rivers of Clearwater County, Idaho
Rivers of Latah County, Idaho
Rivers of Idaho County, Idaho
Clearwater National Forest