Location: Blaine, Boise, Custer, Elmore counties, ID Map
Area: 217,088 acres (878 km2)
Sawtooth Wilderness is situated in Blaine, Boise, Custer, Elmore
counties, Idaho in United States. Sawtooth Wilderness covers an area
of 217,088 acres (878 km2) and it was established by 1977 Clean Air
Act. The name of Sawtooth Wilderness is derived from a Sawtooth
Range that this nature reserve protects. This series of mountain
contains 42 mountains reach a height of over 10,000 feet including
its two highest peaks of Mount Cramer and Thompson Peak. Sawtooth
Wilderness offers many activities to its visitors including hiking,
biking, camping, hunting and mountain climbing. Its 42 trails
stretch for a total of 270 miles. You should be aware that some
areas of awtooth Wilderness permit only limited number of tourists
to reduce number of impact on the surrounding biosphere.
Additionally some areas of the nature reserve prohibit open fires.
Keep yourself safe. Dress warmly and keep mosquito repellents
to protect yourself from unpleasant pests. Additionally if you
travel to Sawtooth Wilderness alone it would be wise to take
something metallic that rattles. That is of course if you don't want
to startle a bear by your sudden appearance.
Wilderness
areas do not allow motorized or mechanical equipment, including
bicycles. Although camping and fishing are allowed with proper
permit, no roads or buildings are constructed, and there is also no
logging or mining. Hunting is permitted during the appropriate
hunting seasons. Hunting and fishing licenses are available from the
state of Idaho through the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. There
are 40 trails totaling nearly 350 miles (560 km) in the wilderness
that can be used for day hiking, backpacking, and horseback riding
and accessed from 23 trailheads. Most of these trails were
constructed or reconstructed in the 1960s. Mountain climbing, rock
climbing, snowshoeing, and backcountry downhill skiing are
activities that are also permitted in the wilderness. The closest
town to the wilderness is Stanley at the northern end of the
Sawtooth Valley, but the communities of Atlanta and Sawtooth City
also provide access to the wilderness.
Sawtooth National Forest was founded by proclamation of President
Theodore Roosevelt on May 29, 1905, as the Sawtooth Forest Reserve of
the United States Department of Agriculture. Named for Sawtooth Mountain
in the northwestern part of the forest, the U.S. Forest Service
established the Sawtooth Primitive Area on Sawtooth Mountain on October
12, 1937. Subsequently, Sawtooth National Forest began to develop a wide
range of recreational opportunities, including new campgrounds, trails,
and roads.
In 1960, Idaho Senator Frank Church was the first to
introduce a feasibility study bill to make the area a national park.
Church killed the 1960 feasibility study bill, but in 1963 he introduced
a bill to create a Sawtooth Wilderness National Park that would have
largely encompassed the existing Sawtooth Wilderness area; the 1963 bill
was also killed, but Church did not want the bill to pass, In 1968, the
discovery of molybdenum deposits at the base of Castle Peak in the White
Cloud Mountains increased support for greater protection of the Sawtooth
Mountains and surrounding areas.
In March 1971, Idaho's
congressional delegation finally banded together and introduced
legislation to create the SNRA, and on August 22, 1972, Public Law
92-400, which created the SNRA, covering 756,019 acres (305,950
hectares) and prohibiting mining there, passed both the House and Senate
passed and was signed into law by President Richard Nixon. As part of
this act, the Sawtooth Primitive Area became part of the National
Wilderness Preservation System as the 217,088-acre (87,852 ha) Sawtooth
Wilderness Area under the Wilderness Act of 1964. It was dedicated in a
ceremony held on September 1, 1972, on the shores of Redfish Lake.