Payette National Forest

National Forest in Idaho

Payette National Forest

Seven Devils Mountains in Payette National Forest

Location| Idaho, United States
Nearest city| McCall, ID
Coordinates| 44°54′39″N 116°6′11″W﻿ / ﻿44.91083°N 116.10306°W﻿ / 44.91083; -116.10306
Area| 2,327,621 acres (9,419.55 km2)[1]
Established| April 1, 1944[2]
Website| Payette National Forest

The Payette National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in central western Idaho, in parts of Valley, Idaho, Adams, and Washington 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 and the Hells Canyon to the west, Salmon-Challis National Forest to the east, Boise National Forest to the south, and the Nez Perce National Forest 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 790,000 acres (3,200 km2) 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 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 and later the manager of Fort Boise for the Hudson's Bay Company 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 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 outcrops. 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.

A map of Payette National Forest (orange).

## See also

[edit]

* List of largest National Forests
* List of largest wilderness areas in the United States

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Land Areas of the National Forest System" (PDF). U.S. Forest Service. January 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
2. ^ "The National Forests of the United States" (PDF). ForestHistory.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 28, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2012.

## External links

[edit]

* Official Site of Payette National Forest

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Protected areas of Idaho

Federal|

| National Parks|

* Yellowstone

|

National Historic Sites & Historical Parks|

* Minidoka NHS
* Nez Perce NHP

National Monuments|

* Craters of the Moon
* Hagerman Fossil Beds

National Forests|

* Bitterroot
* Boise
* Caribou-Targhee
* Clearwater
* Coeur d'Alene
* Idaho Panhandle
* Kaniksu
* Kootenai
* Nez Perce
* Payette
* Salmon-Challis
* Sawtooth
* St. Joe
* Wallowa–Whitman
* Wasatch-Cache

National Grasslands|

* Curlew

National Recreation Areas|

* Hells Canyon
* Sawtooth

National Wildlife Refuges|

* Bear Lake
* Camas
* Deer Flat
* Grays Lake
* Kootenai
* Minidoka
* Oxford Slough Waterfowl Production Area

National Conservation Areas|

* Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey

Wilderness Areas|

* Big Jacks Creek
* Bruneau–Jarbidge Rivers
* Craters of the Moon
* Frank Church–River of No Return
* Gospel Hump
* Hells Canyon
* Hemingway–Boulders
* Jim McClure–Jerry Peak
* Little Jacks Creek
* North Fork Owyhee
* Owyhee River
* Pole Creek
* Sawtooth
* Selway–Bitterroot
* Cecil D. Andrus–White Clouds

National Wild and Scenic Rivers|

* Battle Creek
* Big Jacks Creek
* Bruneau
* Bruneau (West Fork)
* Clearwater (Middle Fork)
* Cottonwood Creek
* Deep Creek
* Dickshooter Creek
* Duncan Creek
* Jarbidge
* Little Jacks Creek
* Lochsa
* Owyhee
* Owyhee (North Fork)
* Owyhee (South Fork)
* Rapid
* Red Canyon
* Saint Joe
* Salmon
* Salmon (Middle Fork)
* Selway
* Sheep Creek
* Snake
* Wickahoney Creek

State|

| State Parks|

* Bear Lake
* Bruneau Dunes
* Castle Rocks
* City of Rocks
* Coeur d'Alene Parkway
* Dworshak
* Eagle Island
* Farragut
* Harriman
* Hells Gate
* Henrys Lake
* Heyburn
* Lake Cascade
* Lake Walcott
* Land of the Yankee Fork
* Lucky Peak
* Massacre Rocks
* McCroskey
* Old Mission
* Ponderosa
* Priest Lake
* Round Lake
* Thousand Springs
* Three Island Crossing
* Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
* Winchester Lake

|

Wildlife
Management
Areas|

* Big Cottonwood
* Billingsley Creek
* Blackfoot River
* Boise River
* Boundary Creek
* Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh
* Carey Lake
* Cartier Slough
* Cecil D. Andrus
* C.J. Strike
* Coeur d'Alene River
* Craig Mountain
* Deer Parks
* Farragut
* Fort Boise
* Georgetown Summit
* Hagerman
* Market Lake
* McArthur Lake
* Montour
* Montpelier
* Mud Lake
* Niagara Springs
* Payette River
* Pend Oreille
* Portneuf
* Red River
* St. Maries
* Sand Creek
* Snow Peak
* Sterling
* Tex Creek

Other|

Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve

* Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation

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National Forests of the United States

* Allegheny
* Angeles
* Angelina
* Apache–Sitgreaves
* Apalachicola
* Arapaho
* Ashley
* Beaverhead–Deerlodge
* Bienville
* Bighorn
* Bitterroot
* Black Hills
* Boise
* Bridger–Teton
* Caribou–Targhee
* Carson
* Chattahoochee–Oconee
* Chequamegon–Nicolet
* Cherokee
* Chippewa
* Choctawhatchee
* Chugach
* Cibola
* Clearwater
* Cleveland
* Coconino
* Coeur d'Alene
* Colville
* Conecuh
* Coronado
* Croatan
* Custer
* Daniel Boone
* Davy Crockett
* De Soto
* Delta
* Deschutes
* Dixie
* Eldorado
* Finger Lakes
* Fishlake
* Flathead
* Francis Marion
* Fremont–Winema
* Gallatin
* George Washington and Jefferson
* Gifford Pinchot
* Gila
* Grand Mesa
* Green Mountain
* Gunnison
* Helena
* Hiawatha
* Holly Springs
* Homochitto
* Hoosier
* Humboldt–Toiyabe
* Huron–Manistee
* Idaho Panhandle
* Inyo
* Kaibab
* Kaniksu
* Kisatchie
* Klamath
* Kootenai
* Lake Tahoe Basin
* Lassen
* Lewis and Clark
* Lincoln
* Lolo
* Los Padres
* Malheur
* Manti–La Sal
* Mark Twain
* Medicine Bow–Routt
* Mendocino
* Modoc
* Monongahela
* Mount Baker–Snoqualmie
* Mount Hood
* Nantahala
* Nebraska
* Nez Perce
* Ocala
* Ochoco
* Okanogan–Wenatchee
* Olympic
* Osceola
* Ottawa
* Ouachita
* Ozark–St. Francis
* Payette
* Pike
* Pisgah
* Plumas
* Prescott
* Rio Grande
* Rogue River–Siskiyou
* Roosevelt
* Sabine
* Salmon–Challis
* Sam Houston
* Samuel R. McKelvie
* San Bernardino
* San Isabel
* San Juan
* Santa Fe
* Sawtooth
* Sequoia
* Shasta–Trinity
* Shawnee
* Shoshone
* Sierra
* Siuslaw
* Six Rivers
* St. Joe
* Stanislaus
* Sumter
* Superior
* Tahoe
* Talladega
* Tombigbee
* Tongass
* Tonto
* Tuskegee
* Uinta
* Umatilla
* Umpqua
* Uncompahgre
* Uwharrie
* Wallowa–Whitman
* Wasatch–Cache
* Wayne
* Wenatchee
* White Mountain
* White River
* Willamette
* William B. Bankhead

* Full Detailed List
* former list

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF
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* Israel
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