Central Idaho

Central Idaho is a geographical term for the region located northeast of Boise and southeast of Lewiston in the U. S. state of Idaho. It is dominated by federal lands administered by the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Idaho's tallest mountain, Borah Peak, is located in this region. A large part of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area is within Central Idaho. The counties of Blaine, Butte, Camas, Custer, and Lemhi are included in the region. The southern Central Idaho region — particularly Blaine and Camas counties — is also known as the Wood River Valley after the Big Wood River. Blaine and Camas counties are also considered to be part of the Magic Valley region of Southern Idaho.

In the 2020 Census, the five county region had a combined population of 40,172 people; only 2.1% of the entire state's population. making Central Idaho one of, if not the least populated area in Idaho. The largest city in the area is the town of Hailey located in Blaine County, with a population of 8,689. Other notable cities include Stanley, Challis, Salmon, Fairfield, and Arco.

The area of Central Idaho has been inhabited since at least 12,000 years ago by the Northern Shoshone, Bannock, and Northern Paiute peoples, where the cycle of sockeye salmon runs sustained the Native American population. As colonization and expansion of the United States progressed into the western region of the continent, these tribes were forcefully removed from their homes in the late 1800's; despite this, traditional hunting and harvesting continued in parts of the Sawtooths. After removal of the natives, Idaho developed an economy that relied on agriculture, lumber, and mining. Silver mining became extensively popular in the area. Towards the end of the 19th century, sheepherding became popular with Basque, Peruvian, and Scottish immigrants, and replaced silver extraction as the area's core economic basis. Sheepherders in the area maintained over 300,000 individual sheep in the early 20th century. 25 years after Pope's proposal, in 1960, Frank Church, another U. S. Senator from Idaho, began to launch efforts to protect the area, which resulted in a proposal of a "National Recreation Area," which would keep the administrative rights with the Forest Service. While this idea was being developed, the American Smelting and Refining Company, or ASARCO, was investigating a possible molybdenum extraction site in the area, which was met with vehement opposition from citizens of Idaho. After much debate, a large part of Central Idaho was deemed as under protection and conservation with the 1972 Sawtooth NRA Act, which protects a large part of Central Idaho's backcountry, fish, and game from urban sprawl and land division. Hunting, fishing, trapping, and camping also occur in the area. Ghost towns are an important marker of culture in Central Idaho. Bayhorse, Idaho is a ghost town located in Custer County. Originally opened as a gold mine, then converted into a silver mine, the town gradually became abandoned as silver prices fell. The city was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was purchased by the state for public enjoyment. Another ghost town, Shoup, Idaho, celebrates the mining history of the area through historical preservation of the gravity fed gas pumps and general store, as well as other historical buildings in the area that once fed the mining town. The Trailing of the Sheep Festival in Ketchum, Idaho, started in 1996, celebrates the historical value of more than 150 years sheepherding as well as the rich culture that sheepherding immigrants brought to the area. At the festival activities include classes on cooking lamb, wool working, and stories of shepherding, as well as demonstrations of herding by dogs and shepherds through courses and a parade of sheep walking through downtown Ketchum. The Sawtooth Salmon Festival, established in 2000, and held at the Stanley Museum in Stanley every August, commemorates the spawning of salmon in the Salmon River with live entertainment, educational tours and presentations, vendors, and food and drink. The Sawtooth Festival, created in 2021, held in July, and also located in Stanley, aims to raise money and promote business and community through the selling of arts and crafts by artisans of Stanley and the Greater Central Idaho area. With more than 80 vendors, numerous photographers, painters, potters, jewelers, crocheters and macrame artists are present at the festival. Live music, as well as food and beverage are available as well.