THE WILD CLEARWATER COUNTRY
The Wild Clearwater Country
The northern half of central Idaho's Big Wild, the Wild Clearwater Country, contains many unprotected roadless areas and wild rivers, and provides crucial habitat for countless rare plant and animal species. The entirety of the Clearwater River drainage is found here. Important headwater streams that give home to chinook salmon and steelhead, bull trout and west-slope cutthroat trout, harlequin ducks and tailed frogs are here. Friends of the Clearwater strives to protect these areas.
According to recent research by World Wildlife Fund, the Clearwater River drainage and vicinity is the most important for forest carnivores in the entire U.S. portion of the Yellowstone to Yukon Rockies region.
Learn more about Visionary Legislation that could protect the entire Wild Northern Rockies.
Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness
The River of No Return Wilderness was created by Congress in 1980. Perhaps the greatest success of Idaho conservationists, it is the single largest designated wilderness area in the lower 48 states of the United States. It is almost 2.4 million acres in extent, covering a vast array of ridges, deep canyons, glaciated peaks, meadows, and one large rolling plateau -- the Chamberlain Basin which covers 500 square miles. 
Frank Church Wilderness Located entirely in the vast Salmon River Mountains, it embraces a portion of the largest continuously mountainous terrain in the United States. Over 3000 miles of trails provide access inside the Wilderness. The FC-RNR Wilderness is full of wildlife, especially elk, but also mule and while-tailed deer, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, black bear, coyotes, bobcat, numerous cougar, pine marten, wolverine, a few lynx, and now quite a few wolves. Only the grizzly bear is lacking. Because the altitude ranges from 2000 or 3000 feet in the deepest canyons to over 10,000 feet on the peaks, year round range for wildlife is provided. Elk, deer and moose do not need to migrate out of the wilderness to winter range near Idaho towns and cities. After the death of Senator Frank Church in 1982, Idaho Senator Jim McClure had Congress rename the wilderness the "Frank Church/River of No Return Wilderness" in honor of the late senator Church's support for preserving this wild core of the Idaho mountains. The "Frank" is separated from the 1.3-million acre Selway/Bitterroot Wilderness, to its immediate north, by one dirt road -- the Magruder road. Of course, this track is no barrier to wolf migration. Most of the reintroduced wolves have spent time in both great wilderness areas -- the heart of Idaho. The beginnings of the establishment of this wilderness came in the 1930s, when the U.S. Forest Service set aside over one million areas through its administrative authority as the "Idaho Primitive Area." After the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964 and a long battle ending in 1980, the United States Congress established the River of No Return Wilderness out of the Idaho Primitive Area, the adjacent Salmon River Breaks Primitive Area and surrounding roadless public lands. Thirty-six wolves were reintroduced into the Frank Church Wilderness during January 1995 and 1996. As a result, about 350 wolves now roam the FC-RNR Wilderness, the Selway/Bitterroot Wilderness to the north, and adjacent country. At the end of 2003, 32 groups or wolf packs roamed Idaho, and about 15 of them used all of part of the FR-RNR or Selway-Bitterroot Wildernesses. Two Wild and Scenic Rivers, the Salmon and the Middle Fork of the Salmon, flow through the wilderness. The headwaters of the Selway Wild and Scenic River lie in the northern-most part. The wilderness covers parts of numerous national forests -- the Bitterroot, Boise, Salmon-Challis, Nez Perce, and Payette National Forests. Both rivers have extremely high recreation use (floating, and floating and jet-boating on the main Salmon). With the additional exception of a few popular high lakes areas and the two river corridors, most of the Wilderness sees very little human use except from hunters in the fall. Beginning in 1980 the number of wildfires began to increase inside this Wilderness. The greatest fire summer was that of 2000 when wildfires caused the evacuation of the Frank for the first time in its history. Because heavy equipment was not used to suppress the fires, the wilderness quality of the area will not suffer, although some drainages like the long Pistol Creek drainage burned almost entirely. In 2001, the year after the fires, the usual flush of ground cover regeneration was not seen because the drought lingered on and deepened. There were additional fires. 2004, however, saw the end of the drought, except in a hydrological sense, and the grass and forbs grew high among the burned trees, and the elk population is rebounding. Further reading~
- Salmon Sojourn Kathleen and Rob J. recount their tale of volunteering in the Frank Church
- Notes On The Flora Of The Middle Fork By: Cleve Davis photographer
- Bighorn Crags photos
USFS links
- Frank Church River of No Return Management Plan, Final Environmental Impact Statement Click on this link to view the Decision Documents (ROD), Management Plan, FEIS and errata sheets.
- Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Noxious Weed Treatment Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement - April 2004
- Frankly Speaking August 30, 2003 A summary of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
- Frankly Speaking July 31, 2003 The document announcing Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
Gospel Hump Wilderness
The United States Congress designated the Gospel-Hump Wilderness in 1978 and it now has a total of 205,796 acres. It is managed by the US Forest Service. They define it as : "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain...."
Gospel Hump Wilderness AreaThousands of years before Lewis and Clark first laid eyes on this region in 1805, Nez Perce Indians (Nimíipuu) were living in harmony with the land, cultivating berries, local plants, making beautiful things to make their lives comfortable and yes, sometimes hunting the great salmon, elk, deer, and (rarely) black bears whose descendants still roam here - while the Nimíipuu languish in marginalized pockets of land representing less than 10% of their original promised treaty area.
Discovery of gold in the 1860s brought a flood of miners into central Idaho that didn't subside until after the turn of the century. Another brief gold rush occurred during the Great Depression, remnants of gold mining operations are evident in the acid drenched hillsides and water canon eroded mountains.
Elevations in the Gospel-Hump Wilderness range from 1,970 feet at the Wind River pack bridge on the Salmon River to 8,940 feet at the summit of Buffalo Hump. The northern portion contains relatively gentle, heavily forested country that sweeps up the glaciated divide between the South Fork of the Clearwater River and the lower Salmon River, which flows out of the nearby Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness. From the divide, the terrain becomes the steep and sparsely vegetated along the Salmon River Breaks. Moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, mountain lions, wolves and anadromous fish live here. The area sees extreme variations in weather, with temperatures sometimes soaring to 100 degrees Fahrenheit along the Salmon River as snow whitens the high country.
Seasonal roads of fair to poor quality surround the Wilderness, offering access to trails that lead from the Salmon River Breaks into the high country, which many hikers would classify as very challenging, and are often impassable due to late snows. Fortunately, it is very difficult to build roads here, so the wilderness has remained fairly intact in this region. The northern part of the Wilderness is moist and heavily forested the southern part is dry and sparsely vegetated. The two parts are separated by a rugged, glaciated divide which contains the peaks for which the wilderness is named.
Regional Map
click anywhere on the map for a full size version
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
Introduction
The United States Congress designated the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in 1964 and it now has a total of 1,340,502 acres. Idaho contains approximately 1,089,059 acres. Montana contains approximately 251,443 acres. It is managed by the United States Forest Service.
Selway Bitterroot Wilderness
Selway-Bitterroot is the third largest Wilderness in the Lower 48, surpassed in size only by California's Death Valley Wilderness and Idaho's Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness (RONR). Less than one-fifth of the area lies in Montana. Only the 600-foot-wide Nez Perce Trail (The Magruder Corridor), an unimproved dirt road, separates the Selway-Bitterroot from the Frank Church-RONR.
The Wilderness straddles both sides of the Bitterroot Range, which stands along the Montana-Idaho border and includes the Wild and Scenic Selway River, all of which flows through Idaho. This vast wildland is one of the roughest mountain areas on earth, a country of high ridges dropping off into steep-walled canyons. The barren peaks don't hint at the dense forests below, where a number of streams and more than 100 lakes offer excellent trout fishing. Hardly any humans visit the huge trailless portions of this Wilderness, which makes it all the more appealing for the large Selway elk herd, plus deer, moose, black bears, and mountain lions.
Many miles of trails provide access to the Montana side of the Selway-Bitterroot, but large sections are unmaintained and rugged. The Divide Trail (Trail 16) follows the Bitterroot Divide for approximately seven miles north of Nez Perce Pass, offering outstanding views across the Montana and Idaho portions of the Wilderness.
What is Wilderness?
Background on designated Wilderness in the United States. Working toward a stronger Wilderness ethic.
'Wilderness Character'
Protecting the integrity of "untrammeled lands".
The purpose of the Wilderness Act is to preserve the wilderness character of the areas to be included in the wilderness system, not to establish any particular use.
— Howard Zahniser, 1962
The Wilderness Act of 1964 was positive and proactive legislation. It intended that Wilderness would have meaning, that it would be protected for something, not simply be a place where certain activities such as logging do not occur. The preservation of Wilderness character is essential to the continued existence of Wilderness in America. It is what shapes our interactions and relationship with these places in ways that are different from how we approach any other landscape.
The interaction between Wilderness character and our human character is what makes Wilderness unique. If Wilderness character is lost, there will be no Wilderness for future generations to know and enjoy. Despite its statutory importance, the concept of Wilderness character is not defined in the Wilderness Act, although the Act refers to it repeatedly. Section 4(b) of the Act explicitly mandates that managing agencies “shall be responsible for preserving the Wilderness character of the area and shall so administer such area for such other purposes for which it may have been established as also to preserve its wilderness character.”(emphasis added)
Despite this clear legal directive, for decades none of the federal land management agencies attempted to define it. This changed in 2001 when the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service released a draft wilderness stewardship policy containing a lengthy description of this core concept. The description was grounded on scholarly research into the writings and congressional testimony of the Wilderness Act’s chief author, Howard Zahniser, and other major wilderness visionaries including Bob Marshall and Aldo Leopold, whose vision contributed to passage of the Wilderness Act. “(A)t its core, wilderness character, like personal character, is much more than a physical condition… The character of wilderness is an unseen presence capable of refocusing our perception of nature and our relationship to it. It is that quality that lifts our connection to a landscape from the utilitarian, commodity orientation that dominates the major part of our relationship with nature to the symbolic realm serving other human needs.”
Historical records clearly demonstrate that Wilderness Act visionaries believed that wilderness character consists of both tangible, physical components as well as intangible, psychological and spiritual components. Many tangible components have intangible values as well.
Some tangible components of Wilderness character include the presence of native wildlife at naturally occurring population levels; lack of human structures, roads, motor vehicles or mechanized equipment, lack of crowding or large groups; few, or no human “improvements" for visitor convenience such as highly engineered and over-developed trails, developed campsites, signs, or bridges, and little or no sign of biophysical damage caused by visitor use, such as trampled or denuded ground, tree limbs cut for camp use, or habituated or displaced wildlife.
Some intangible components of Wilderness character include solitude; immediacy; opportunities for reflection; freedom; risk, adventure, and mystery; places where safety is a personal responsibility; untrammeled, wild and self-willed, where natural processes occur without intentional human interference; uncommodified, not for sale and commercial-free; opportunities for full self-reliance; opportunities for humans to experience our connection to the larger community of life; places that forever remain in contrast to modern civilization, its technologies, and contrivances.
Thinking in terms of Wilderness character is an extremely beneficial way of viewing all visitor use and management actions in wilderness. This concept refocuses our attention away from simply viewing wilderness as an amalgam of various biophysical resources and visitor experiences - to recognizing the relationship between these things and the overall Wilderness character of these special places. The concept enables us to view seemingly disparate management issues, proposals, and potential threats within the singular context of how well these will protect or diminish elements of Wilderness character.
We must recognize that the criteria we use in wilderness cannot be limited to whether an action or technology will disturb wildlife, squish plants, or leave a scar. They may be inappropriate here for the same reason they would be inappropriate in the National Cathedral or the Viet Nam Memorial… because they are at variance with the symbolism of a place set apart.
— U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Draft Wilderness Stewardship Policy, 2001
The Wilderness Act
Public Law 88-577, 88th Congress, S. 4, September 3, 1964
AN ACT
To establish a National Wilderness Preservation System for the permanent good of the whole people, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SHORT TITLE
Section 1
WILDERNESS SYSTEM ESTABLISHED STATEMENT OF POLICY
Sec. 2
(a) In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.
For this purpose there is hereby established a National Wilderness Preservation System to be composed of federally owned areas designated by Congress as "wilderness areas", and these shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use as wilderness, and so as to provide for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character, and for the gathering and dissemination of information regarding their use and enjoyment as wilderness; and no Federal lands shall be designated as "wilderness areas" except as provided for in this chapter or by a subsequent Act.
(b) The inclusion of an area in the National Wilderness Preservation System notwithstanding, the area shall continue to be managed by the Department and agency having jurisdiction thereover immediately before its inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System unless otherwise provided by Act of Congress. No appropriation shall be available for the payment of expenses or salaries for the administration of the National Wilderness Preservation System as a separate unit nor shall any appropriations be available for additional personnel stated as being required solely for the purpose of managing or administering areas solely because they are included within the National Wilderness Preservation System.
DEFINITION OF WILDERNESS
(c) A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this chapter an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.
NATIONAL WILDERNESS PRESERVATION SYSTEM -- EXTENT OF SYSTEM
Sec. 3
(a) All areas within the national forests classified at least 30 days before September 30, 1964, by the Secretary of Agriculture or the Chief of the Forest Service as "wilderness", "wild", or "canoe" are hereby designated as wilderness areas. The Secretary of Agriculture shall -- (1) Within one year after September 30, 1964, file a map and legal description of each wilderness area with the Interior and Insular Affairs Committees of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, and such descriptions shall have the same force and effect as if included in this chapter: Provided, however, That correction of clerical and typographical errors in such legal descriptions and maps may be made. (2) Maintain, available to the public, records pertaining to said wilderness areas, including maps and legal descriptions, copies of regulations governing them, copies of public notices of, and reports submitted to Congress regarding pending additions, eliminations, or modifications. Maps, legal descriptions, and regulations pertaining to wilderness areas within their respective jurisdictions also shall be available to the public in the offices of regional foresters, national forest supervisors, and forest rangers.
(b) The Secretary of Agriculture shall, within ten years after September 30, 1964, review, as to its suitability or nonsuitability for preservation as wilderness, each area in the national forests classified on September 3, 1964, by the Secretary of Agriculture or the Chief of the Forest Service as "primitive" and report his findings to the President. The President shall advise the United States Senate and House of Representatives of his recommendations with respect to the designation as "wilderness" or other reclassification of each area on which review has been completed, together with maps and a definition of boundaries. Such advice shall be given with respect to not less than one-third of all the areas now classified as "primitive" within three years after September 3, 1964, not less than two-thirds within seven years after September 3, 1964, and the remaining areas within ten years after September 3, 1964. Each recommendation of the President for designation as "wilderness" shall become effective only if so provided by an Act of Congress. Areas classified as "primitive" on September 3, 1964, shall continue to be administered under the rules and regulations affecting such areas on September 3, 1964, until Congress has determined otherwise. Any such area may be increased in size by the President at the time he submits his recommendation to the Congress by not more than five thousand acres with no more than one thousand two hundred and eighty acres of such increase in any one compact unit; if it is proposed to increase the size of any such area by more than five thousand acres or by more than one thousand two hundred and eighty acres in any one compact unit the increase in size shall not become effective until acted upon by Congress. Nothing herein contained shall limit the President in proposing, as part of his recommendations to Congress, the alteration of existing boundaries of primitive areas or recommending the addition of any contiguous area of national forest lands predominantly of wilderness value. Not withstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the Secretary of Agriculture may complete his review and delete such area as may be necessary, but not to exceed seven thousand acres, from the southern tip of the Gore Range-Eagles Nest Primitive Area, Colorado, if the Secretary determines that such action is in the public interest.
(c) Within ten years after September 3, 1964, the Secretary of the Interior shall review every roadless area of five thousand contiguous acres or more in the national parks, monuments and other units of the national park system and every such area of, and every roadless island within, the national wildlife refuges and game ranges, under his jurisdiction on September 3, 1964, and shall report to the President his recommendation as to the suitability or nonsuitability of each such area or island for preservation as wilderness. The President shall advise the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of his recommendation with respect to the designation as wilderness of each such area or island on which review has been completed, together with a map thereof and a definition of its boundaries. Such advice shall be given with respect to not less than one-third of the areas and islands to be reviewed under this subsection within three years after September 3, 1964, not less than two-thirds within seven years of September 3, 1964, and the remainder within ten years of September 3, 1964. A recommendation of the President for designation as wilderness shall become effective only if so provided by an Act of Congress. Nothing contained herein shall, by implication or otherwise, be construed to lessen the present statutory authority of the Secretary of the Interior with respect to the maintenance of roadless areas within units of the national park system.
(d) (1) The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior shall, prior to submitting any recommendations to the President with respect to the suitability of any area for preservation as wilderness -- (A) give such public notice of the proposed action as they deem appropriate, including publication in the Federal Register and in a newspaper having general circulation in the area or areas in the vicinity of the affected land; (B) hold a public hearing or hearings at a location or locations convenient to the area affected. The hearings shall be announced through such means as the respective Secretaries involved deem appropriate, including notices in the Federal Register and in newspapers of general circulation in the area: Provided, That if the lands involved are located in more than one State, at least one hearing shall be held in each State in which a portion of the land lies; (C) at least thirty days before the date of a hearing advise the Governor of each State and the governing board of each county, or in Alaska the borough, in which the lands are located, and Federal departments and agencies concerned, and invite such officials and Federal agencies to submit their views on the proposed action at the hearing or by not later than thirty days following the date of the hearing. (2) Any views submitted to the appropriate Secretary under the provisions of (1) of this subsection with respect to any area shall be included with any recommendations to the President and to Congress with respect to such area.
(e) Any modification or adjustment of boundaries of any wilderness area shall be recommended by the appropriate Secretary after public notice of such proposal and public hearing or hearings as provided on subsection (d) of this section. The proposed modification or adjustment shall then be recommended with map and description thereof to the President. The President shall advise the United States Senate and the House of Representatives of his recommendations with respect to such modification or adjustment and such recommendations shall become effective only on the same manner as provided for in subsections (b) and (c) of this section.
USE OF WILDERNESS AREAS
Sec. 4
(a) The purposes of this chapter are hereby declared to be within and supplemental to the purposes for which national forests and units of the national park and national wildlife refuge systems are established and administered and -- (1) Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to be in interference with the purpose for which national forests are established as set forth in the Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11), and the Multiple Use Sustained-Yield Act of June 12, 1960 (74 Stat. 215). (2) Nothing in this chapter shall modify the restrictions and provisions of the Shipstead-Nolan Act (Public Law 539, Seventy-first Congress, July 10, 1930; 46 Stat. 1020),the Thye-Blatnik Act (Public Law 733, Eightieth Congress, June 22, 1948; 62 Stat. 568), and the Humphrey-Thye-Blatnik-Andersen Act (Public Law 607, Eighty-fourth Congress, June 22.1965; 70 Stat. 326), as applying to the Superior National Forest or the regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture. (3) Nothing in this chapter shall modify the statutory authority under which units of the national park system are created. Further, the designation of any area of any park, monument, or other unit of the national park system as a wilderness area pursuant to this Act shall in no manner lower the standards evolved for the use and preservation of such park, monument, or other unit of the national park system in accordance with the Act of August 25, 1916, the statutory authority under which the area was created, or any other Act of Congress which might pertain to or affect such area, including, but not limited to, the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225; 16 U.S.C. 432 et seq.); § 3(2) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796 (2) ); and the Act of August 21,1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, each agency administering any area designated as wilderness shall be responsible for preserving the wilderness character of the area and shall so administer such area for such other purposes for which it may have been established as also to preserve its wilderness character. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, wilderness areas shall be devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use.
PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN USES
(c) Except as specifically provided for in this chapter, and subject to existing private rights, there shall be no commercial enterprise and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of this Act (including measures required in emergencies involving the health and safety of persons within the area), there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within any such area.
SPECIAL PROVISIONS
(d) The following special provisions are hereby made: (1) Within wilderness areas designated by this chapter the use of aircraft or motorboats, where these uses have already become established, may be permitted to continue subject to such restrictions as the Secretary of Agriculture deems desirable. In addition, such measures may be taken as may be necessary in the control of fire, insects, and diseases, subject to such conditions as the Secretary deems desirable. (2) Nothing in this chapter shall prevent within national forest wilderness areas any activity, including prospecting, for the purpose of gathering information about mineral or other resources, if such activity is carried on in a manner compatible with the preservation of the wilderness environment. Furthermore, in accordance with such program as the Secretary of the Interior shall develop and conduct in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, such areas shall be surveyed on a planned, recurring basis consistent with the concept of wilderness preservation by the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines to determine the mineral values, if any, that may be present; and the results of such surveys shall be made available to the public and submitted to the President and Congress. (3) Not withstanding any other provisions of this chapter, until midnight December 31, 1983, the United States mining laws and all laws pertaining to mineral leasing shall, to the extent as applicable prior to September 3, 1964, extend to those national forest lands designated by this chapter as "wilderness areas"; subject, however, to such reasonable regulations governing ingress and egress as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture consistent with the use of the land for mineral location and development and exploration, drilling, and production, and use of land for transmission lines, waterlines, telephone lines, or facilities necessary in exploring, drilling, producing, mining, and processing operations, including where essential the use of mechanized ground or air equipment and restoration as near as practicable of the surface of the land disturbed in performing prospecting, location, and , in oil and gas leasing, discovery work, exploration, drilling, and production, as soon as they have served their purpose. Mining locations lying within the boundaries of said wilderness areas shall be held and used solely for mining or processing operations and uses reasonably incident thereto; and hereafter, subject to valid existing rights, all patents issued under the mining laws of the United States affecting national forest lands designated by this chapter as wilderness areas shall convey title to the mineral deposits within the claim, together with the right to cut and use so much of the mature timber therefrom as may be needed in the extraction, removal, and beneficiation of the mineral deposits, if needed timber is not otherwise reasonably available, and if the timber is cut under sound principles of forest management as defined by the national forest rules and regulations, but each such patent shall reserve to the United States all title in or to the surface of the lands and products thereof, and no use of the surface of the claim or the resources therefrom not reasonably required for carrying on mining or prospecting shall be allowed except as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter: Provided, That, unless hereafter specifically authorized, no patent within wilderness areas designated by this Act shall issue after December 31, 1983, except for the valid claims existing on or before December 31, 1983. Mining claims located after September 3, 1964, within the boundaries of wilderness areas designated by this chapter shall create no rights in excess of those rights which may be patented under the provisions of this subsection.
Mineral leases, permits, and licenses covering lands within national forest wilderness areas designated by this chapter shall contain such reasonable stipulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture for the protection of the wilderness character of the land consistent with the use of the land for the purposes for which they are leased, permitted, or licensed. Subject to valid rights then existing, effective January 1, 1984, the minerals in lands designated by this Act as wilderness areas are withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the mining laws and from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral leasing and all amendments thereto. (4) Within wilderness areas in the national forests designated by this chapter, (1) the President may, within a specific area and in accordance with such regulations as he may deem desirable, authorize prospecting for water resources, the establishment and maintenance of reservoirs, water-conservation works, power projects, transmission lines, and other facilities needed in the public interest, including the road construction and maintenance essential to development and use thereof, upon his determination that such use or uses in the specific area will better serve the interests of the United States and the people thereof than will its denial; and (2) the grazing of livestock, where established prior to September 3, 1964, shall be permitted to continue subject to such reasonable regulations as are deemed necessary by the Secretary of Agriculture. (5) Other provisions of this chapter to the contrary notwithstanding, the management of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, formerly designated as the Superior, Little Indian Sioux, and Caribou Roadless Areas, in the Superior National Forest, Minnesota, shall be in accordance with the general purpose of maintaining, without unnecessary restrictions on other uses, including that of timber, the primitive character of the area, particularly in the vicinity of lakes, streams, and portages: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall preclude the continuance within the area of any already established use of motorboats. (6) Commercial services may be performed within the wilderness areas designated by this Act to the extent necessary for activities which are proper for realizing the recreational or other wilderness purposes of the areas. (7) Nothing in this chapter shall constitute an express or implied claim or denial on the part of the Federal Government as to exemption from State water laws. (8) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as affecting the jurisdiction or responsibilities of the several States with respect to wildlife and fish in the national forests.
STATE AND PRIVATE LANDS WITHIN WILDERNESS AREAS
Sec. 5
(a) In any case where State-owned of privately owned land is completely surrounded by national forest lands within areas designated by this chapter as wilderness, such State or private owner shall be given such rights as may be necessary to assure adequate access to such State-owned or privately owned land by such State or private owner and their successors in interest, or the State-owned land or privately owned land shall be exchanged for federally owned land in the same State of approximately equal value under authorities available to the Secretary of Agriculture: Provided, however, That the United States shall not transfer to a state or private owner any mineral interests unless the State or private owner relinquishes or causes to be relinquished to the United States the mineral interest in the surrounded land.
(b) In any case where valid mining claims or other valid occupancies are wholly within a designated national forest wilderness area, the Secretary of Agriculture shall, by reasonable regulations consistent with the preservation of the area as wilderness, permit ingress and egress to such surrounded areas by means which have been or are being customarily enjoyed with respect to other such areas similarly situated.
(c) Subject to the appropriation of funds by Congress, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to acquire privately owned land within the perimeter of any area designated by this chapter as wilderness if (1) the owner concurs in such acquisition or (2) the acquisition is specifically authorized by Congress.
GIFTS, BEQUESTS, AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Sec. 6.
(a) The Secretary of Agriculture may accept gifts or bequests of land within wilderness areas designated by this chapter for preservation as wilderness. The Secretary of Agriculture may also accept gifts or bequests of land adjacent to wilderness areas designated by this chapter for preservation as wilderness if he has given sixty days advance notice thereof to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Land accepted by the Secretary of Agriculture under this section shall become part of the wilderness area involved. Regulations with regard to any such land may be in accordance with such agreements, consistent with the policy of this chapter, as are made at the time of such gift, or such conditions, consistent with such policy, as may be included in, and accepted with, such bequest.
(b) The Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to accept private contributions and gifts to be used to further the purpose of this chapter.
ANNUAL REPORTS
Sec. 7.
At the opening of each session of Congress, the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior shall jointly report to the President for transmission to Congress on the status of the wilderness system, including a list and descriptions of the areas in the system, regulations in effect, and other pertinent information, together with any recommendations they may care to make. Approved September 3, 1964.
Who the wild things are
The Wild Clearwater Country is home to myriad critters and other life forms, great and small. From the little known moonworts so dependent upon ancient western redcedars to massive elk to the seldom seen wolverine.
This page is dedicated to the organisms found in the Clearwater River drainage. Wild ecosystems are, by their nature, extremely complex. Unaltered landscapes like the Clearwater are rich in biodiversity, which means that the relationships between different species can be ancient, subtle, convoluted, and quite fragile.
This page is currently being developed. If you have suggestions to include on this page by all means let us know by emailing us at foc@friendsoftheclearwater.org or by calling us at (208) 882-9755.
Wildlands
Big Wild Action Report #4, July 2005
with permission from Big Wild Advocates
As the new century unfolds, America faces a profound opportunity to be seized or lost, depending upon the collective size and generosity of our hearts; the last chance to save and restore a significant chunk of the dwindling American wilderness. The opportunity of the ages, it's fraught with dangers from foes who respond only to the promise of profits and to the perpetuation of empires. Since Congress enacted the 1964 Wilderness Act, creating a National Wilderness Preservation System, conservationists have worked to protect as designated Wilderness undeveloped public wildlands--generally known as Roadless Areas. National forests, national parks, national wildlife refuges, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administered lands all include millions of acres of roadless areas that should be designated Wilderness by Congress. In many cases, these wildlands are under attack like never before. When Congress designates a public wildland as a Wilderness Area, it is generally protected from industrial development as a natural wild landscape. Roadbuilding, logging, resort development, new mining entry, new livestock allotments and motor vehicles are all outlawed in designated Wilderness. Today, attacks upon the wilderness concept reverberate. Bureaucrats create euphemisms such as "ecosystem management," "forest health," and other buzzwords designed to convince the gullible that roadless areas and related wildlands need more intensive management, not less. . . . NOW IS THE TIME FOR WILDLAND CONSERVATION TO RENEW AND REDOUBLE ITS COMMITMENT TO WILDERNESS! The America first experienced by Europeans was a teeming wilderness with an unbelievable profusion of life. Over sixty-million bison ... a couple hundred thousand griz ... giant elk herds across the plains and from coast to coast ... billions of passenger pigeons blackening the eastern sky ... billions of spawning salmon ... unbroken virgin forests and unplowed prairies ... living flood plains and deltas nourished by rich silt-laden floodwaters .... So great was the pre-Colombian American wilderness that folks today can only imagine the magic squandered in just a few generations. Yet relative to Europe and many other areas, America is lucky. Though depleted, a vestige of wilderness remains, harboring some of the magic, and containing the genetic seeds of a potentially wilder, healthier tomorrow. According to many of the world's foremost scientists, any effective strategy to maintain wild native life on Earth must include as a basic fundament saving unprotected roadless areas and restoring big wilderness.
More Information~
Roadless Wildlife Habitat Areas
Roadless Wildlife Habitat Areas are pristine, unspoiled, undeveloped, natural, wild lands, which are accessed by trail, greater than 5,000 acres in size or contiguous to a designated wilderness and found in our National Forests.
Idaho has more roadless country than any other of the lower 48 states, at approximately 9 million acres. These roadless areas provide connectivity for far roaming species such as wolverines, wolves, and other large carnivores as well as for ungulates like elk, moose, white-tail and mule deer. Many of the larger roadless areas in the Wild Clearwater Country effectively act as de-facto wilderness. Their character is that of a place untrammeled by man, a place dictating its own future, a refuge for clean water, sensitive species, and serenity.
The scant protection offered them by the Roadless Rule is currently being upheld, most recently by a ruling of the 9th Circuit of the U.S. District Court in Northern California. This court reinstated the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, holding that the State Petition Rule issued by the Forest Service did not comply with the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and the Adminstrative Procedures Act. More recently, this same court ordered the Forest Service to stop work on 85 projects which actively sought to develop roadless areas, including a road project in Idaho.
As things currently stand, the inventoried roadless country in the Clearwater drainage remains roadless and we work to encourage the BLM and US Forest Service to treat the uninventoried roadless lands they administer for the public as protected roadless country is treated.
However, the Bush administration and the state of Idaho are poised to develop these critical Roadless Wildlife Habitat Areas. For more information and to make a comment on this terrible plan:
IDAHO ROADLESS Area Conservation DEIS
Clearwater National Forest Roadless Areas
Inventoried roadless areas of the wild Clearwater.
Eldorado Creek Roadless Area
Size: 6,000 acres
This is the last natural area remaining in the more gentle and rolling forests that used to characterize northern Idaho. Sadly, the Forest Service drew a poor boundary during the Forest Plan of 1987 and some of the area has been logged. Fortunately it is still large enough for wilderness designation being well over 5,000 acres in size.
Kelly Creek Roadless Area (Great Burn)
Goat Lake
Approximate Size: 275,000 acres (including MT portion)
This vast expanse of wild country straddles the Montana/Idaho border and lies in the northern Bitterroot Mountains. The area burned heavily in the great fire of 1910, leaving charred snags, grassy slopes, and expanses of sub-alpine tundra-like meadows.
High cirques, impressive stands of mountain hemlock, and dozens of clear lakes also adorn the high country. While not as high and "craggy" as the main Bitterroot range to the south, the area displays magical pockets of ancient western red cedar, some individuals over 500 years old, and a carpeted underfoot with mossy beds of sword and maidenhair ferns. Peaks such as Rhodes and Williams rise to nearly 8,000 feet, and an abundance of moisture nurtures the area.
Kelly Creek Roadless Area is a critical biological link between the massive Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness complex to the south and the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem to the north. Full protection of this interestate wildland is essential to preserving populations of wide ranging large carnivores such as wolverines.
Lochsa Face Roadless Area
This is the steep face of the Lochsa River adjacent to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. It contains the famous Jerry Johnson Hot Springs and important tributaries to the Lochsa River. Much of it was formerly part of the old Selway Primitive Area.
Lolo Roadless Area
The Lolo Roadless Area is part of a large roadless area that encompasses the north flank of Lolo Peak, the northern boundary of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. It is mostly in Montana but includes a small section in the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho.
Moose Mountain Roadless Area
This is a rugged and scenic area with important headwater tributaries. It has few trails, which makes the area of interest to hikers seeking a challenge. It is home to elk and mountain goats, and is an important area for other wildlife, fisheries, and primitive recreation.
North Lochsa Slope Roadless Area
This area contains the most important steelhead habitat in north central Idaho and crucial wildlands north of Highway 12, known as the Lochsa River corridor. It also contains the largest unroaded section of the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Pot Mountain Roadless Area
Pot Mountain Roadless Area
Size: 50,000 acres
Pot Mountain Roadless Area is next to the North Fork Clearwater River and is an integral part of the Northern Rockies Bioregion that extends from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the Yukon River country in northwest Canada.
The Pot Mountain ridgeline contains seven major peaks, including 7,130 ft. Pot Mountain. Rough, steep slopes fall to below 2,000 feet along the North Fork Clearwater. Several alpine lakes can be found in this high country, with their own suite of macroinvertebrate fauna and plant life
Rawhide Roadless Area
Rawhide Roadless Area
Recent land exchanges have removed the private checkerboard land formerly found in the southern part of the Rawhide Roadless Area. This area provides a crucial fish habitat for bull trout.
Rawhide Roadless Area
Siwash Roadless Area
This area contains steep terrain with lower elevation, coastal disjunct plant habitat. This rare ecosystem needs protection as most of it has been lost to logging, dam building (Dworshak), and other development.
Sneakfoot Meadows Roadless Area
This wet area is home to a thriving moose herd. Along with White Sand and part of the Lochsa Face, this area used to be part of the old Selway Primitive Area but was administratively axed by the agency from the Wilderness in 1963. Because of the unique wet meadows, a portion of the area is a RNA.
Washington Roadless Area
Size: 5,000 acres
Weir/Post Office Proposed Wilderness
This wild section of land is remote with no trails. It has unique features like Ashpile Peak and Weir Creek Hot Springs and is adjacent to Indian Post Office. The Forest Service has yet to produce a desired future condition because the plan has been delayed on the Clearwater and Nez Perce National Forests. A draft policy has been circulated through the county roadless meetings. It is Clearwater National Forest policy (the three-prong approach) to not log or road roadless areas.
Weitas Creek Roadless Area
Weitas Creek
Size: 240,000 acres
Weitas Creek lies in the North Fork Clearwater drainage, separated from Pot Mountain Roadless Area to the north by a single road. This sprawling low elevation country is rare in our region and it provides crucial winter range for elk, as well as clear, cold water for bull and cuttthroat trout. It is home to at least one wolf pack and is also the location of recent unconfirmed grizzly sightings.
Weitas Creek provides clean water for the North Fork Clearwater River. Upper Cayuse Creek and the North Fork tributary contain some of the largest stands of old growth left in the entire Clearwater Basin.
Low elevation river valleys such as this often do not escape roading. It is for this reason as well as the unparalleled fish populations that make Weitas Creek a prime candidate for wilderness designation.
Wendover Roadless Area
Size: 5,000 acres
This area, just south of the Lolo Motorway, contains an important part of the Lolo Trail National Historic Site.
White Sand Creek/North Fork Spruce Roadless Area
Many of the streams and rivers in these areas still run wild with rare steelhead, bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout. This is a wet, high elevation area in the upper Lochsa that is reported to contain the rare Harlequin duck. The Rudd Moore Lakes area should be evaluated to see if it is a logical addition to this area. A portion of the Upper Spruce Creek drainage was erroneously excluded in the newly defined roadless area and the boundary from 1987 should be adopted.
Idaho Panhandle National Forest Roadless Areas
Panhandle National Forest
Grandmother Mountain Roadless Area
Grandmother Mountain Roadless Area
Size: 30,000 acres approximately
This area is a popular high elevation recreation area, especially for primitive winter recreation and huckleberry picking. However, ORV use creates damage along the trails and meadows, especially around Widow Mountain.
Much of the Grandmother Mountain Roadless area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This includes the headwaters of the Little North Fork Clearwater. A portion of this roadless area is protected as an Research Natural Area. Higher elevation lakes and unique wetlands make this area and the nearby Pinchot Butte Roadless Area (separated by one Forest road) incredibly valuable ecologically.
Several trails in this area were recently made off limits to 4 wheel ORV use.
Spectacular views can be seen from all of the peaks in this area, as it makes up part of the ridge dividing the Clearwater from the St. Joe River drainage.
Mallard Larkins Roadless Area
Mallard Larkins Roadless Area
Size: 260,000 acres
The Mallard Larkins is biologically diverse, including low elevation disjunct coastal rainforest communities. In the high country, extensive lodgepole pine and mountain hemlock forests mingle with subalpine meadows, high mountain lakes, and craggy peaks.
Impressive pockets of old growth western red cedar, western hemlock, and inland western white pine, some quite massive, remain in the lower elevations. The rare inland coastal rainforest habitat is well developed in Isabella Creek.
Here, large old growth red alder, pacific yew, and many different ferns thrive among the arboreal giants. Thirty-eight mountain lakes are large enough to be named, with Heart Lake the largest at 35 acres.
Nez Perce National Forest Roadless Areas
Roadless areas in the Nez Perce National Forest.
Clear Creek Roadless Area
Clear Creek Roadless Area
Approximate Size: 10,000 acres
Clear Creek Roadless Area is surrounded by development. This 25,000 acre gem has escaped logging because fires early in this century replaced some of the forests with shrubs. Clear Creek RA serves as crucial wildlife winter range.
Dixie Summit/Nut Hill Roadless Area
A unique RNA is inside this area. Much of it has been excluded since the RARE II inventory though it appears development was not as extensive as the boundary adjustment would indicate. Also, land to the north of the formal IRA is roadless.
Goddard Creek Roadless Area
Size: <5,000 acres
This area occupies the central position between O'Hara Falls and Middle Fork Face. This area contains habitat for unique coastal disjunct species including the rare and declining Pacific Dogwood and anadromous fish. It was erroneously removed from the RARE II inventory. Logging has already damaged this area and it may no longer be 5,000 acres of undeveloped land.
John Day Roadless Area
John Day Roadless Area
John Day has two streams with anadromous fish- John Day and Allison Creeks. Whitebark pines are fairly common. Some of the area has been damaged by ORV use.
Kelly Mountain Roadless Area
Size: 5,000 acres
This area drains into the Salmon River, east of Riggins. It was studied during RARE II but ignored in the forest plan inventory. However, this steep area likely still contains 5,000 acres of land missed by the flawed forest plan inventory.
Lick Point Roadless Area
Lick Creek
This is the headwaters of the American River and it is crucial that this habitat be protected for TES fish species. It is important moose range and much of the area was burned in fires early in this century.
Little Slate Creek Roadless Area
Little Slate Creek Roadless AreaSize: 5,000 + acres
This area contains important tributaries to Slate Creek, an important anadromous fish stream. A unique lake in Nut Basin and a RNA in No Business Creek are important natural features. RARE II advised development and logging divided this area into two smaller roadless areas, though each appears to be over 5,000 acres in size.
Little Slate Creek Roadless Area (taken from Nut Basin)
Little Slate Creek Roadless Area (north view)
Logical additions to the Gospel Hump Wilderness: John's Creek, Boulder Creek, et al.
Approximate former size: 53,000 acres
Approximate post-logging size: 44,000 acres
This is one of the remaining potential additions to the Gospel Hump Wilderness on the South Fork Clearwater drainage. Large ponderosa pines and steep open grassy slopes characterize this roadless gem known for its important anadromous and inland fishery. Bull trout, chinook, and steelhead spawn here.
The Otter-Wing and Mackey Day timber sales, carried out in the late 1990s and early 2000s, ecologically devastated this portion of the Gospel Hump's northern boundary. This split into half the most intact and healthy steelhead and west-slope cutthroat trout producing tributaries on the South Fork Clearwater.
The South Fork Clearwater suffers from decades of strip mining, overgrazing, and road-building. It is imperative that healthy tributaries like John's Creek remain to benefit this imperiled water shed.
Mallard Roadless Area
Size: 77,000 acres
This area is the site of the infamous Cove/Mallard timber sales. These sales, which would have decimated two roadless areas totaling 77,000 acres, were canceled recently after intense public pressure and citizen monitoring proved that the sales were not following environmental laws. This area is important forested habitat, adjacent to the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, and a crucial wildlife corridor.
Meadow Creek Roadless Area (a logical Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Addition)
Meadow Creek (upper north fork) Roadless Area
Meadow Creek (East & West) Roadless Area
Size: 200,000 + acres
Meadow Creek is a spectacular drainage in the Nez Perce National Forest. This huge roadless area is a real gem, however, the over 200,000 acres encompassed in this area is under threat. satellite map
One of the most outstanding qualities of Meadow Creek is its clean, cold waters. Starting at its headwaters in the south, Meadow Creek flows first northeast through lush meadows which give the drainage its name. It then curves back west and north as it rushes down steep and narrow valleys, opening up before it joins the Selway river just above Selway Falls.
It is the most important tributary of the Selway not only because of the clear water it provides, but it also nourishes a healthy anadromous fish population of steelhead trout and Chinook salmon as exists in Idaho today. Bull and Westslope cutthroat trout find refuge in its waters. Many people return year after year to fish Meadow Creek's waters. The area is also home to huge cedars and firs, mixed with ponderosa and lodgepole pine. There are areas in the East Fork of the American River and Kirks Fork that need to be added. It includes some land managed by BLM. For decades it has been a priority in proposals for wilderness as an addition to the Selway-Bitterroot - though ignored by politicians.
Overwhelming citizen support for the area forced the Forest Service to recognize its natural values. However, there is currently no agency commitment to protect the area as it has long been a target for logging. Additionally, this large roadless area has been arbitrarily split into east and west sections by the Forest Service, along the creek bearing it's name. This was done in hopes of developing the west side and is one of many destructive changes the Bush administration's roadless rule repeal process has brought about.
Join Gary Macfarlane, FOC's forest watch director for a workshop dedicated to the ins and outs of timber sale monitoring from start to finish. Contact Gary at gary@wildrockies.org
Middle Fork Face Roadless Area
Size: <5,000 acres
This area contains steelhead and important winter range. Lawless logging under the infamous savage rider, which suspended laws, may have destroyed this area and it may no longer be 5,000 acres of undeveloped land.
North Fork Slate Roadless Area
Slate Creek is important anadromous fish habitat. Steep rim rock characterizes much of this country. It contains historically significant sites.
O'Hara Falls Creek Roadless Area
O'Hara Falls Creek Roadless AreaO'Hara Creek is a uniquely diverse drainage with an RNA and large ferns. A scenic waterfall and important anadromous fish habitat is within the unit. This area contains habitat for unique coastal disjunct species including the rare and declining Pacific dogwood.
Rackcliff-Gedney Roadless Area
Size: 90,000 acres
This large area occupies the divide between the Lochsa and Selway Rivers. It includes important historical sites, popular trails, scenic lakes, and winter range for ungulates.
Rapid River Roadless Area
Rapid River Roadless Area
Rapid River Canyon, seen here from Whitebird Ridge opposite the Seven Devils is a prime candidate for addition to the Hells Canyon Wilderness Area. Rapid River is designated as Wild & Scenic and contains crucial anadromous fish habitat for Chinook salmon. The area is unique in that it largely escaped fires early in this century.
Salmon Face Roadless Area
This area contains spectacular scenery adjacent to the Hells Canyon Wilderness. It also contains a significant, natural cave, which has created recent management controversy.
Silver Creek-Pilot Knob Roadless Area
Pilot Knob Roadless AreaThis area is of significance to the Nez Perce Tribe. Pilot Rock is a unique natural feature and several meadows are found below the peaks. The area was greatly reduced between RARE II and the forest plan, though the development was not as severe as the boundary deletions would indicate.
Upper Bear Creek Roadless Area
Size: 700,000 acres
This area has been in wilderness proposals though it was inadvertently neglected in the Nez Perce forest plan inventory. However, it appears to have been included in Bitterroot National Forest inventories as it is contiguous with the Selway Bitterroot additions on that forest (although it is in Idaho, on the Nez Perce National Forest).
West Fork Crooked River & Gospel Hump Additions
Most of this is roadless land that should be added to this inventory and was erroneously omitted from the forest plan though included in RARE II. This includes Johns Creek, Boulder Creek, Indian Creek, and other areas. Johns Creek is the best fish habitat in the South Fork Clearwater and should be protected. Indian Creek is rugged country along the Salmon River. The only area included is the upper West Fork Crooked River, which includes important high elevation watersheds and fishery habitat.