Sawtooth National Recreation Area

National recreation area in Idaho, US

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) is a national recreation area in central Idaho, United States that is managed as part of Sawtooth National Forest. The recreation area, established on August 22, 1972, is managed by the U. S. Forest Service, and includes the Sawtooth, Hemingway–Boulders, and Cecil D. Andrus–White Clouds wilderness areas. Activities within the recreation area include hiking, backpacking, White water rafting, camping, rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, fishing, and hunting. The SNRA headquarters are about seven miles (11 km) north of Ketchum on Highway 75. SNRA also has a ranger station in Stanley, near its northern boundary. In recent years forest management activity has increased in the form of Prescribed Fire, commercial Logging, and non commercial thinning of dead and diseased trees throughout the Sawtooth NRA. Active Forest management is designed to reduce hazardous wildfire fuel, restore beetle killed forests, regenerate young growth, and prevent the further spread of Bark beetle and disease such as dwarf mistletoe. Forest management activities have been developed and supported by the local residents through the Sawtooth Valley Wildfire Collaborative.

Much of the SNRA was heavily glaciated, especially in the Sawtooth Mountains where remnants of these glaciers exist as glacial lakes, moraines, hanging valleys, cirques, and arêtes. The Sawtooth Fault stretches 40 mile (64 km) long, and runs through the Sawtooth Valley, while the two past large earthquakes likely took place on the fault around 7,000 and 4,000 years b. p.

The Sawtooth Mountains are in the SNRA, along with the White Cloud, Boulder, and Smoky mountains. The highest point in the SNRA is Castle Peak at 11815 feet (3601 m) in the White Cloud Mountains, while the second highest point is Ryan Peak at 11714 feet (3570 m) in the Boulder Mountains. Thompson Peak, at an elevation of 10751 feet (3277 m), is the highest point in the Sawtooth Mountains, while Saviers Peak at 10441 feet (3182 m) is the highest point in the Smoky Mountains.

A 2003 memoir by John Rember, Traplines: Coming Home to the Sawtooth Valley, describes the life and culture of Stanley, Idaho before and after establishment of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Clint Eastwood's 1985 film Pale Rider was filmed in the SNRA, mostly in the Boulder Mountains in the fall of 1984. The opening credits scene was shot south of Stanley in front of the Sawtooth Mountains. The SNRA is one of the settings of Lionsgate's 2010 3 D computer animated film Alpha and Omega.

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).

The 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.

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.

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.