North Fork Owyhee Wilderness

North Fork Owyhee Wilderness
IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)


Location	Owyhee County, Idaho, USA
Nearest city	Boise, Idaho
Coordinates	42°40′26″N 116°45′33″W / 42.67389°N 116.75917°W / 42.67389; -116.75917Coordinates: 42°40′26″N 116°45′33″W / 42.67389°N 116.75917°W / 42.67389; -116.75917
Area	43,413 acres (17,569 ha)
Established	2009
Governing body	Bureau of Land Management

The North Fork Owyhee Wilderness is on the high basalt plateaus of Owyhee County in southwestern Idaho in the western United States.^[1]^[2]^[3] The rivers within it offer whitewater rapids up to Class IV.^[2] The upper 20.8 miles (33.5 km) of the North Fork Owyhee River, from the Idaho–Oregon border to the upstream boundary of the wilderness, are part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Of this total, 15.1 miles (24.3 km) are classified as wild and the remaining 5.7 miles (9.2 km) are classified "recreational".^[4]

Geography

The North Fork Owyhee Wilderness has canyons over 1,000 feet (300 m) deep, sagebrush, and grassland plateaus. These canyons in Owyhee County have been called "the largest concentration of sheer-walled volcanic rhyolite and basalt canyons in the western United States".^[1]^[5]

Legislative history

The North Fork Owyhee Wilderness was created by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 30, 2009. Also created in the Omnibus Land Act were five additional southwestern Idaho wilderness areas in Owyhee County, collectively known as the Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness Areas:^[6]^[7]

Big Jacks Creek Wilderness - 52,826 acres (21,378 ha)
Bruneau – Jarbidge Rivers Wilderness - 89,996 acres (36,420 ha)
Little Jacks Creek Wilderness - 50,929 acres (20,610 ha)
Owyhee River Wilderness - 267,328 acres (108,184 ha)
Pole Creek Wilderness - 12,533 acres (5,072 ha)

The Act of 2009 added 517,025 acres (209,233 ha) of wilderness within the state of Idaho.^[6]^[7]

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, in compliance with the 1964 Wilderness Act. Wilderness areas within National Forests and Bureau of Land Management areas also allow hunting in season.^[8]^[9]

Natural history

The North Fork Owyhee Wilderness lies within the Owyhee Desert, part of the northern Basin and Range ecoregion, although hydrologically the wilderness area is within the Snake River – Columbia River drainage.^[1]^[10] The area is home to mule deer, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, sage grouse, hawks, eagles, falcons, plus many songbirds, as well as numerous rare plants.^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 "North Fork Owyhee Wilderness - General". Wilderness.net. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
1 2 "North Fork Owyhee Wilderness, Idaho". Public Lands. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
↑ "North Fork Owyhee Wilderness" (PDF). Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
↑ "Owyhee River (North Fork), Idaho". National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
↑ "Map of North Fork Owyhee and Pole Creek Wilderness" (PDF). Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
1 2 "Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness Areas". Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
1 2 "Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness". Idaho Public TV. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
↑ "Forestwide Standards and Guidelines" (PDF). United States Forest Service. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
↑ "North Fork Owyhee Wilderness - Area Management". Retrieved July 12, 2011.
↑ This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document: McGrath, C.L., Woods, A.J., Omernik, J.M. et al. "Ecoregions of Idaho" (PDF). (color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs; with a Reverse side).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Fork Owyhee Wilderness.

Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway - Bureau of Land Management

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	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 White Clouds

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

Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation (website)

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