Middle Fork Clearwater River | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | United States |
State | Idaho |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Confluence of Lochsa River and Selway River |
• location | Lowell, Idaho |
• coordinates | 46°08′25″N115°35′58″W / 46.14028°N 115.59944°W [1] |
Mouth | Clearwater River |
• location | Kooskia, Idaho |
• coordinates | 46°08′44″N115°58′57″W / 46.14556°N 115.98250°W [1] |
• elevation | 1,224 ft (373 m) |
Length | 23 mi (37 km) [2] |
Basin size | 3,420 sq mi (8,900 km2) [3] |
Discharge | |
• location | Lowell [n 1] |
• average | 6,532 cu ft/s (185.0 m3/s) [n 2] |
• minimum | 260 cu ft/s (7.4 m3/s) |
• maximum | 77,200 cu ft/s (2,190 m3/s) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Selway River, Clear Creek |
• right | Lochsa River, Pete King Creek, Maggie Creek |
Type | Recreational |
Designated | October 2, 1968 |
The Middle Fork Clearwater River is a short, but high volume river in Idaho County, Idaho, United States and is the major source of the Clearwater River, a tributary of the Snake River.
The Middle Fork flows west for 23 miles (37 km) [2] from the confluence of the Selway River and Lochsa River at Lowell, to the town of Kooskia where it joins with the South Fork Clearwater River to create the Clearwater River. The Middle Fork's entire length is within Idaho County, although a small portion of its watershed extends into Clearwater County.
The Middle Fork, along with the Selway and Lochsa Rivers, was among the original eight rivers designated as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. It is a major migration route for Pacific chinook salmon that spawn in the Selway River. [8] Although the Middle Fork flows through a tight canyon, it is characterized by gentle Class I and II rapids suitable for floating, especially in late summer after the peak snow melt has decreased. [9]
U.S. Route 12 follows the entire length of the river. [2]
The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About 1,080 miles (1,740 km) long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Beginning in Yellowstone National Park, western Wyoming, it flows across the arid Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the rugged Hells Canyon on the borders of Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and finally the rolling Palouse Hills of southeast Washington. It joins the Columbia River just downstream from the Tri-Cities, Washington, in the southern Columbia Basin.
The Salmon River, also known as "The River of No Return", is a river located in the U.S. state of Idaho in the western United States. It flows for 425 miles (685 km) through central Idaho, draining a rugged, thinly populated watershed of 14,000 square miles (36,000 km2). The river drops more than 7,000 feet (2,100 m) from its headwaters, near Galena Summit above the Sawtooth Valley in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, to its confluence with the Snake River. Measured at White Bird, its average discharge is 11,060 cubic feet per second. The Salmon River is the longest undammed river in the contiguous United States.
Clearwater National Forest with headquarters on the Nez Perce Reservation at Kamiah is located in North Central Idaho in the northwestern United States. The forest is bounded on the east by the state of Montana, on the north by the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, and on the south and west by the Nez Perce National Forest and Palouse Prairie.
The Lochsa River is in the northwestern United States, in the mountains of north central Idaho. It is one of two primary tributaries of the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River in the Clearwater National Forest. Lochsa is a Nez Perce word meaning rough water. The Salish name is Ep Smɫí, "It Has Salmon."
The Selway River is a large tributary of the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River in the U.S. state of Idaho. It flows within the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, the Bitterroot National Forest, and the Nez Perce National Forest of North Central Idaho. The entire length of the Selway was included by the United States Congress in 1968 as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
The North Fork Clearwater River is a major tributary of the Clearwater River in the U.S. state of Idaho. From its headwaters in the Bitterroot Mountains of eastern Idaho, it flows 135 miles (217 km) westward and is dammed by the Dworshak Dam just above its mouth in north-central Idaho. Draining a rugged watershed of 2,462 square miles (6,380 km2), the river has an average flow of over 5,600 cubic feet per second (160 m3/s), accounting for a third of the discharge from the Clearwater basin. The river drains parts of Clearwater, Shoshone, Latah, and Idaho counties. Most of the watershed is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Some of the fish of the river include westslope cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, mountain whitefish, and the threatened bull trout. It also has smallmouth bass and a kokanee salmon run, both from Dworshak Reservoir. The North Fork drainage is home to grizzly bears, cougars, deer, moose, black bear, elk, grey wolves, and osprey. The river used to have a large steelhead run before the implementation of Dworshak Dam. The North Fork of the Clearwater is located within the Clearwater National Forest
The Clearwater River is in the northwestern United States, in north central Idaho. Its length is 74.8 miles (120.4 km), it flows westward from the Bitterroot Mountains along the Idaho-Montana border, and joins the Snake River at Lewiston. In October 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition descended the Clearwater River in dugout canoes, putting in at "Canoe Camp," five miles (8 km) downstream from Orofino; they reached the Columbia Bar and the Pacific Ocean about six weeks later.
The Potlatch River is in the state of Idaho in the United States. About 56 miles (90 km) long, it is the lowermost major tributary to the Clearwater River, a tributary of the Snake River that is in turn a tributary of the Columbia River. Once surrounded by arid grasslands of the Columbia Plateau adjacent to the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the Potlatch today is used mainly for agriculture and irrigation purposes.
The Middle Fork Eel River is a major tributary of the Eel River of northwestern California in the United States. It drains a rugged and sparsely populated region of the Yolla Bolly Mountains, part of the California Coast Range, in Trinity and Mendocino Counties. Its watershed comprises roughly 745 square miles (1,930 km2) of land, or 20% of the entire Eel River basin. The river provides groundwater recharge and is used for recreation and for industrial, agricultural and municipal water supply by residents.
The East Fork Carson River is the largest tributary of the Carson River, flowing through California and Nevada in the western United States. The north-flowing river is 61 miles (98 km) long and drains a mostly rural, mountainous watershed of 392 square miles (1,020 km2).
The Salt River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in eastern Missouri in the United States. The river is approximately 55 miles (89 km) long and drains an area of 2,518 sq mi (6,520 km2) in parts of twelve Missouri counties.
The South Fork Salmon River is an 86-mile (138 km) tributary of the Salmon River in Idaho and Valley Counties in central Idaho. The river drains a rugged, lightly populated wilderness watershed in the Salmon River Mountains. It is the second-largest tributary of the Salmon River, after the Middle Fork.
The South Fork Clearwater River is a 62-mile (100 km) long river in north-central Idaho in the United States. Draining about 1,175 square miles (3,040 km2), the South Fork joins with the Middle Fork Clearwater River to form the Clearwater River, a major tributary of the Snake River.
Lowell is an unincorporated community in Idaho County, Idaho, United States, located at the confluence of the Selway and Lochsa rivers, where they join to form the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River. The community lies within the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests at an elevation of 1,486 feet (453 m) above sea level, and was named after Henry Lowell, its first postmaster.
The Idaho Batholith ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Idaho and Montana. It is contained within the following biomes designated by the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF): temperate coniferous forests; temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands; and deserts and xeric shrublands.
The North Fork Stanislaus River is a 31.2-mile (50.2 km) tributary of the Stanislaus River in the central Sierra Nevada and Stanislaus National Forest of eastern California.
Syringa is an unincorporated community in the northwest United States in Idaho County, Idaho. Named for the shrub which grows in the area [Philadelphus lewisii], the state flower, it is in the Pacific Time Zone (UTC-8). At low elevation, the climate is mild, with an average annual precipitation exceeding 25 inches (65 cm).
The South Fork Stanislaus River is a major tributary of the Stanislaus River in Tuolumne County, California. The river flows for 48.5 miles (78.1 km) through rugged alpine and foothill areas of the Sierra Nevada.
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