The Payette National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in central western

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 ...

, in parts of

Valley 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 ove ...

, Adams, and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

counties. The land area consists of approximately 2.3 million acres (9,300 km²) of federally managed lands. It is bordered by

Hells Canyon National Recreation Area Hells Canyon National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area on the borders of the U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, the recreation area was es ...

and the

Hells Canyon Hells Canyon is a canyon in the Western United States, located along the border of eastern Oregon, a small section of eastern Washington and western Idaho. It is part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area which is also located in p ...

to the west, Salmon-Challis National Forest to the east,

Boise National Forest Boise National Forest is a National Forest covering of the U.S. state of Idaho. Created on July 1, 1908, from part of Sawtooth National Forest, it is managed by the U.S. Forest Service as five units: the Cascade, Emmett, Idaho City, Low ...

to the south, and the

Nez Perce National Forest The Nez Perce National Forest is a United States National Forest located in west-central Idaho. The forest is bounded on the east by the state of Montana, on the north by the Clearwater National Forest, on the west by a portion of the Wallowa– ...

to the north. The Payette National Forest is a part of the Intermountain Region (Region 4). It is under the jurisdiction of a forest supervisor in McCall and is divided into five ranger districts: McCall, Krassel, New Meadows, Council, and Weiser. The Payette also provides the largest component of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, the second-largest designated wilderness area outside Alaska. Approximately of it is within the wilderness, comprising one-third of its total acreage. ( Five other National Forests also contribute to the River of No Return Wilderness, in addition to a small plot of land from the Bureau of Land Management.) It also provides the third-largest component of the Hells Canyon Wilderness. The

Forest Reserve Act of 1891 The General Revision Act (sometimes Land Revision Act) of 1891, also known as the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, was a federal law signed in 1891 by President Benjamin Harrison. The Act reversed previous policy initiatives, such as the Timber Culture ...

helped the creation of the Weiser Reserve in 1905 and the Idaho Reserve in 1908. A merger of these two reserves (later called forests) on April 1, 1944 created the official Payette National Forest. It is named for François Payette (1793-18xx), a French-Canadian

fur trapper Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

and later the manager of

Fort Boise Fort Boise is either of two different locations in the western United States, both in southwestern Idaho. The first was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post near the Snake River on what is now the Oregon border (in present-day Canyon County ...

for the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

from 1835-1844. He was one of the first white men to settle in the area, venturing east from Astoria, Oregon in 1818. A large and amiable man, he was highly regarded for being very helpful to travelers. He returned to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 1844 and the remainder of his life is a mystery. The Payette National Forest is located above the Idaho Batholith, the largest granitic body of rock in the United States. Glacial activity as recently as 15,000 years ago also shaped the character of the forest providing lakes and granite

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...

s. The forest is made up of eight species of conifer trees, 300 species of mammals and birds, a number of fish species protected under the Endangered Species Act, and a wide variety of wildflowers. Streams and lakes drain into two of Idaho's major rivers, the Salmon or the Snake. Payette National Forest Map

References

External links

Official Site of Payette National Forest
{{Authority control National Forests of Idaho Protected areas established in 1944 Protected areas of Valley County, Idaho Protected areas of Idaho County, Idaho Protected areas of Adams County, Idaho Protected areas of Washington County, Idaho

See also

References

External links