The Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) is a

national recreation area A national recreation area (NRA) is a protected area in the United States established by an Act of Congress to preserve enhanced recreational opportunities in places with significant natural and scenic resources. There are 40 NRAs, which emphasiz ...

in central

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 ...

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 ...

that is managed as part of

Sawtooth National Forest Sawtooth National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest that covers 2,110,408 acres (854,052 ha) in the U.S. states of Idaho (~96 percent) and Utah (~4 percent). Managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the United States Depart ...

. The recreation area, established on August 22, 1972, 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 ...

, and includes the Sawtooth, Hemingway–Boulders, and Cecil D. Andrus–White Clouds wilderness areas. Activities within the recreation area include

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...

White water rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, and

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, ...

. The SNRA headquarters are about seven miles (11 km) north of

Ketchum Ketchum may refer to: Towns, cities, and, geographic features * Ketchum, Idaho, United States * Ketchum, Oklahoma, United States * Lake Ketchum, Washington, United States * Ketchum Glacier, a glacier in Antarctica * Ketchum Ridge, a large ridge i ...

on Highway 75. SNRA also has a ranger station in

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

, near its northern boundary.

History

The SNRA was created on August 22, 1972 by , which including creating the

Sawtooth Wilderness The Sawtooth Wilderness is a federally-protected wilderness area that covers of the state of Idaho. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it was designated the Sawtooth Primitive Area in 1937 to preserve the ...

from the Sawtooth Primitive Area. The White Clouds and Hemingway–Boulders wilderness areas were created on August 7, 2015 by Public Law 114-46. Between 1998 and 2010 an outbreak of

Mountain pine beetle The mountain pine beetle (''Dendroctonus ponderosae'') is a species of bark beetle native to the forests of western North America from Mexico to central British Columbia. It has a hard black exoskeleton, and measures approximately , about the siz ...

killed thousands of

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, ...

across the Sawtooth Valley. In recent years forest management activity has increased in the form of

Prescribed Fire A controlled or prescribed burn, also known as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing, or a burn-off, is a fire set intentionally for purposes of forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. A control ...

, commercial

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 ...

, and non-commercial thinning of dead and diseased trees throughout the Sawtooth NRA. Active

Forest management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This includes management for ...

is designed to reduce hazardous

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

fuel, restore beetle killed forests, regenerate young growth, and prevent the further spread of

Bark beetle A bark beetle is the common name for the subfamily of beetles Scolytinae. Previously, this was considered a distinct family (Scolytidae), but is now understood to be a specialized clade of the "true weevil" family (Curculionidae). Although the ...

and disease such as

dwarf mistletoe The genus ''Arceuthobium'', commonly called dwarf mistletoes, is a genus of 26 species of parasitic plants that parasitize members of Pinaceae and Cupressaceae in North America, Central America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. Of the 42 species tha ...

. Forest management activities have been developed and supported by the local residents through the Sawtooth Valley Wildfire Collaborative.

Geology

Much of the SNRA was heavily glaciated, especially in the Sawtooth Mountains where remnants of these glaciers exist as

glacial lakes A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

moraines A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

hanging valleys A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

cirques A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...

, and

arête An arête ( ) is a narrow ridge of rock which separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequen ...

s. The

Sawtooth Fault The Sawtooth Fault is an east- dipping normal fault (vertical motion) which runs along the eastern base of the Sawtooth Mountains in the state of Idaho in the United States. In 2010, Glenn Thackray and colleagues from Idaho State University discov ...

stretches long, and runs through the

Sawtooth Valley The Sawtooth Valley is a valley in the Western United States, in Blaine and Custer counties of central Idaho. About long, it is in Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) in the Sawtooth National Forest. It is surrounded by the Sawtooth Moun ...

, while the two past large earthquakes likely took place on the fault around 7,000 and 4,000 years b.p.

Mountains

The Sawtooth Mountains are in the SNRA, along with the White Cloud,

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

, and Smoky mountains. The highest point in the SNRA is Castle Peak at in the White Cloud Mountains, while the second-highest point is Ryan Peak at in the Boulder Mountains.

Thompson Peak Thompson Peak may refer to one of these mountain peaks: *Thompson Peak (Arizona), a McDowell Mountains summit 20 miles from Phoenix with amateur and Maricopa County government radio towers accessible via a service road from Fountain Hills () * Thom ...

, at an elevation of , is the highest point in the Sawtooth Mountains, while Saviers Peak at is the highest point in the Smoky Mountains.

Rivers

The headwaters of the Salmon River, also known as the "River of No Return" are in the SNRA, and the river flows north through the Sawtooth Valley before turning east in Stanley and following the northern border of the SNRA. The headwaters of the Big Wood,

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area's ...

, and Payette rivers are also in SNRA.

Lakes

There are hundreds of lakes in the SNRA, most of which have been created by alpine glaciers. The largest lakes are

Redfish Redfish is a common name for several species of fish. It is most commonly applied to certain deep-sea rockfish in the genus ''Sebastes'', red drum from the genus '' Sciaenops'' or the reef dwelling snappers in the genus '' Lutjanus''. It is also a ...

Alturas Alturas (Spanish language, Spanish for "Heights"; Achumawi language, Achumawi: ''Kasalektawi'') is a city and the county seat of Modoc County, California. Located in the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California, the city had a population of ...

, Pettit, Yellow Belly,

, and Sawtooth lakes. *'' List of lakes of the Sawtooth Mountains'' *''

List of lakes of the White Cloud Mountains The lakes of the White Cloud Mountains are located within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area of Custer County, Idaho. There are hundreds of lakes in the mountains, and most of the lakes were created by alpine glaciers. Many of the lakes are ...

Wildlife

Timber wolves were reintroduced in the 1990s and plans to reintroduce

grizzly bear 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 ...

s have been abandoned. The SNRA contains prime habitat for

wolverines The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

and the endangered

Canadian lynx The Canada lynx (''Lynx canadensis''), or Canadian lynx, is a medium-sized North American lynx that ranges across Alaska, Canada, and northern areas of the contiguous United States. It is characterized by its long, dense fur, triangular ears w ...

, but no recent sightings have been reported.

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 ...

are the management

indicator species A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

for the SNRA and population monitoring efforts are undertaken every year. *'' List of animals of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area'' *'' List of birds of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area''

Popular culture

A 2003 memoir by John Rember, ''Traplines: Coming Home to the Sawtooth Valley'', describes the life and culture of

Stanley, Idaho Stanley is a town in the Sawtooth Valley in Custer County, Idaho, United States. The population was 116 at the 2020 census; up from 63 in 2010. The center of population of Idaho in 2000 was located in Stanley. History Fur trappers of the Hud ...

before and after establishment of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

's 1985 film ''

Pale Rider ''Pale Rider'' is a 1985 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also stars in the lead role. The title is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as the pale horse's ghost rider (Eastwood) represents Deat ...

'' was filmed in the SNRA, mostly in the Boulder Mountains in the fall of 1984. The opening credits scene was shot south of

in front of the Sawtooth Mountains. The SNRA is one of the settings of

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

's 2010 3-D computer-animated film ''

Alpha and Omega Alpha (Α or α) and omega (Ω or ω) are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and a title of Christ and God in the Book of Revelation. This pair of letters is used as a Christian symbol, and is often combined with the Cross, Chi-rh ...

''.

The GOAT Plate

The mountain goat is a universal symbol signifying the human need to find high, quiet places. In Idaho, the mountain goat license plate symbolizes the importance of protecting the high quiet places like those found in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA). The program generates roughly $50,000, annually — to date, 219 projects benefitting the SNRA have been funded through this innovative program. The Idaho Department of Motor Vehicles created a license plate depicting the SNRA as part of their special license plate program intended to grant funds for various causes. (see right).

Sawtooth Interpretive and Historical Association

Th
Sawtooth Interpretive and Historical Association
(SIHA) was founded in 1972, the same year that the SNRA was created. The mission of SIHA is to protect and advance the natural and cultural history of Idaho’s Sawtooth – Salmon River Country through preservation and education.

Stanley Museum

SIHA has managed the Stanley Museum since the early 1980s. The Stanley Museum was the original Valley Creek Ranger Station. Today visitors can explore exhibits within the museum and learn about local history.

Redfish Visitor Center and Gallery

Located on Redfish Lake in the heart of the SNRA, the Redfish Visitor Center and Gallery is the oldest National Forest visitor center in the contiguous US. Built in the early 1960s and operated for many years by the USFS. In 2011 SIHA began working in partnership with the USFS to manage the Redfish Visitor Center and Gallery. Educational programs are provided through the summer to visitors of all ages by SIHA naturalists.

Sawtooth Society

The Sawtooth Society was founded in 1997 by a group of dedicated supporters of the Sawtooth National Recreational Area. At the time of the Sawtooth Society’s founding, a major threat had arisen in the Stanley Basin: a highly visible and unapproved 160-acre subdivision. The Society negotiated an end to the project and successfully urged Congress to appropriate $17 million to the U.S. Forest Service for the purchase of conservation easements protecting this land in perpetuity. The Sawtooth Society has long been dedicated to these four outcomes: Advocacy The Society mobilized policy-makers and the public to address threats facing the SNRA; joined with the Forest Service to initiate Sawtooth Vision 20/20, and helped develop management plans for SNRA Wilderness Areas. Preserving Open Space The Sawtooth Society has worked with the Administration and Congress to secure $17 million in federal funds for the purchase of conservation easements in the SNRA; published “What Works” a document to clarify and distribute private land regulations to encourage inconspicuous development; educated private landowners about their responsibility in making development less conspicuous. Enhancing Recreation Facilities and Services The Sawtooth Society supported USFS efforts from 2005 through the present to design, build and fund the Stanley to Redfish Lake trail. The Society also coordinated nearly $1 Million in Goat License Plate grants for 220 enhancement projects to benefit the SNRA and all who live, work and recreate in it. Facilitating Stewardship and Volunteer Projects Since 2014 the Sawtooth Society facilitated and coordinated projects including 13,400 hours of labor which resulted in clearing more than 4,980 trees from 612 miles of trails and providing stewardship education opportunities to more than 400 youth.

Gallery

File:Sawtooth Valley ID1.jpg, Sawtooth Valley from Galena Summit File:Sawtooth mtns.JPG, Sawtooth Mountains File:Sawtooth Lake.JPG, Sawtooth Lake File:Parks Peak.JPG, Parks Peak File:Redfish lake.JPG, Redfish lake File:Washington Lake.jpg, Washington Lake File:4th July Lake.JPG, Fourth of July Lake File:Fisher Creek Trail.JPG, Fisher Creek Trail File:Warm Springs Meadow.JPG, Warms Springs Creak Meadow File:Sawtooth Valley.JPG, Sawtooth Valley and Sawtooth Mountains File:Grand Mogul.JPG, Grand Mogul and Redfish Lake Creek Valley File:Smith Falls.JPG, Smith Falls File:Falls Creek Valley.JPG, Falls Creek Valley File:Western end of Redfish Lake.jpg, The SW end of Redfish Lake (Redfish Lake Creek Canyon)

References

External links

U.S. Forest Service
- Sawtooth National Recreation Area
Sawtooth Camera
{{USNRAs National Recreation Areas of the United States Protected areas of Idaho Protected areas of the Rocky Mountains Protected areas of Blaine County, Idaho Protected areas of Boise County, Idaho Protected areas of Custer County, Idaho Protected areas of Elmore County, Idaho Protected areas established in 1972 Salmon-Challis National Forest Sawtooth National Forest Boise National Forest