Wild and Scenic Rivers
The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (P.L. 111-111) designated 316 miles of southern Idaho waterways as Wild and Scenic Rivers under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
Congress created the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in 1968 to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was sponsored in Congress by Senator Frank Church of Idaho. There are three categories of rivers in the WSR system: wild, scenic, and recreational. Wild rivers are free of dams, generally inaccessible except by trail, and represent vestiges of primitive America. Scenic rivers are free of dams with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads. Recreational rivers are readily accessible by road or railroad, may have some development along their shorelines, and may have been dammed in the past.
Which Idaho waterways have been designated?
North Fork Owyhee River
Almost six miles from the Idaho-Oregon border to the upstream boundary of private land at the Juniper Mountain road crossing have been designated as a recreational river. Just over 15 miles - from the recreational river section to the upstream boundary of the North Fork Owyhee Wilderness - are now designated wild.
Battle Creek
The Act designates 23.4 miles of this waterway as a wild river, from the confluence of the Owyhee River to the upstream boundary of the newly designated Owyhee River Wilderness.
Deep Creek
A 13.1-mile segment of this waterway, which flows through the Owyhee River Wilderness, has been designated wild.
Deep Creek
Dickshooter Creek
Dickshooter Creek flows into Deep Creek. About 9.25 miles upstream from the confluence are designated wild.
Owyhee River
The 67.3 miles of the river from the Idaho-Oregon border to the upstream boundary of the Owyhee River Wilderness are designated a wild river.
The South Fork of the Owyhee River
Red Canyon
Just over four and a half miles of this waterway are designated wild, from the confluence of the Owyhee River to the upstream boundary of the Owyhee River Wilderness.
South Fork Owyhee River
Along this fork, 31.4 miles are designated wild, from the Idaho-Nevada border (the upstream boundary of the Owyhee River Wilderness) to the confluence with the main Owyhee River. A short portion of this stretch, where the river crosses private land, will be managed as a recreational river.
Big Jacks Creek and Little Jacks Creek Wilderness areas
Big Jacks Creek
Big Jacks Creek flows through the newly designated Big Jacks Creek Wilderness in the BLM Bruneau Field Office. The Act designates 35 miles of the creek as a wild river.
Little Jacks Creek
Surrounded by the Little Jacks Creek Wilderness, 12.4 miles of this waterway have been designated a wild river.
Cottonwood Creek
The 2.6 miles upstream of the confluence of Big Jacks Creek have been designated a wild river.
Duncan Creek
Almost one mile of this waterway has been designated a wild river, right before its confluence with Big Jacks Creek.
Wickahoney Creek
As this waterway meets Big Jacks Creek, 1.5 miles of it are now a wild river, from the confluence of Big Jacks Creek to the upstream boundary of the Big Jacks Creek Wilderness.
Bruneau River
Nearly 40 miles of the River's 50-mile total length are now designated as wild, with a six-tenth-mile stretch at the Indian Hot Springs access point designated recreational. In addtion, just over one-third of a mile of the West Fork Bruneau River upstream from the confluence of the Jarbidge River has been designated wild.
The Bruneau River
Jarbidge River
The Act designates 28.8 miles of the Jarbidge as wild, from the confluence with the West Fork Bruneau River to the upstream boundary of the Bruneau-Jarbidge Wilderness.
Sheep Creek
More than 25 miles of Sheep Creek have been designated wild, from the confluence with the Bruneau River to the upstream boundary of the Bruneau-Jarbidge Wilderness.
