The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At 1,078 miles (1,735 km) long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake River rises in western Wyoming, then flows through the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the rugged Hells Canyon on the Oregon–Idaho border and the rolling Palouse Hills of Washington, emptying into the Columbia River at the Tri-Cities in the Columbia Basin of Eastern Washington.
Valley County is a rural county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,746. The county seat is Cascade, and the largest city is McCall. Established in 1917, it was named after the Long Valley of the North Fork of the Payette River, which extends over 30 miles (50 km) from Payette Lake at McCall south to Cascade to Round Valley. The valley was formerly a summer pasture for livestock from the Boise Valley. Since the completion of the Cascade Dam in 1948, much of the northern valley has been covered by the Cascade Reservoir.
The Boise River is a 102-mile-long (164 km) tributary of the Snake River in the Northwestern United States. It drains a rugged portion of the Sawtooth Range in southwestern Idaho northeast of Boise, as well as part of the western Snake River Plain. The watershed encompasses approximately 4,100 square miles (11,000 km2) of highly diverse habitats, including alpine canyons, forest, rangeland, agricultural lands, and urban areas.
The Payette River is an 82.7-mile-long (133.1 km) river in southwestern Idaho and is a major tributary of the Snake River.
Boise National Forest is a National Forest covering 2,203,703 acres (8,918.07 km2) of the U.S. state of Idaho. Created on July 1, 1908, from part of Sawtooth National Forest, it is managed by the U.S. Forest Service as five units: the Cascade, Emmett, Idaho City, Lowman, and Mountain Home ranger districts.
Sawtooth National Forest is a National Forest that covers 2,110,408 acres in the U.S. states of Idaho and Utah. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it was originally named the Sawtooth Forest Reserve in a proclamation issued by President Theodore Roosevelt on May 29, 1905. On August 22, 1972 a portion of the forest was designated as the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA), which includes the Sawtooth, Cecil D. Andrus–White Clouds, and Hemingway–Boulders wilderness areas. The forest is managed as four units: the SNRA and the Fairfield, Ketchum, and Minidoka Ranger Districts.
The Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge is an important breeding area for mammals, birds, and other animals. The National Wildlife Refuge is located on land surrounding Lake Lowell, just outside Nampa, Idaho. It serves as a resting and wintering area for birds, including mallards and Canada geese, along the Pacific Flyway and was named a "Globally Important Bird Area" by the American Bird Conservancy.
Lake Cascade, is a reservoir in the western United States, on the North Fork of the Payette River in Valley County, Idaho. Located in the Boise National Forest, it has a surface area of 47 square miles (122 km2), and is the fourth largest lake or reservoir in the state. The closest cities are Cascade, Donnelly, and McCall, all in the Long Valley of Valley County.
Deadwood Reservoir is a reservoir in the western United States, in Valley County, Idaho. Located in the mountains of the Boise National Forest about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Cascade, the 3,000-acre (12 km2) body on the Deadwood River is created by Deadwood Dam. The river flows south from the dam and is a tributary of the South Fork of the Payette River. The reservoir and vicinity is commonly used for camping, water skiing, fishing, canoeing, and other outdoor recreation. The full pool surface elevation is just above a mile-high at 5,334 ft (1,626 m) above sea level.
Lucky Peak Dam is a rolled earth and gravel fill embankment dam in the western United States, located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho. In Ada County east of Boise, it is directly downstream of Arrowrock Dam, a concrete arch dam completed in 1915. At the time of its construction in the early 1950s, Lucky Peak's primary purpose was flood control, with a secondary purpose of irrigation. The normal operating elevation of the full reservoir is 3,055 feet (931 m) above sea level, the empty reservoir's elevation is 2,824 feet (861 m).
Anderson Ranch Dam is an earth rockfill type dam in the western United States, on the South Fork of the Boise River in southwestern Idaho. In Elmore County northeast of Mountain Home, it is several miles north of U.S. Route 20 and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
State Highway 21 (SH-21), also known as the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway, is a state highway in Idaho. It runs from Boise to Stanley, primarily as a two-lane road. With two-thirds of its length in Boise County, it passes by historic Idaho City and the village of Lowman to the western edge of the Sawtooth Mountains, then along their northern boundary to Stanley.
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 Minidoka Project is a series of public works by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to control the flow of the Snake River in Wyoming and Idaho, supplying irrigation water to farmlands in Idaho. One of the oldest Bureau of Reclamation projects in the United States, the project involves a series of dams and canals intended to store, regulate and distribute the waters of the Snake, with electric power generation as a byproduct. The water irrigates more than a million acres (4,000 km²) of otherwise arid land, producing much of Idaho's potato crop. Other crops include alfalfa, fruit and sugar beets. The primary irrigation district lies between Ashton in eastern Idaho and Bliss in the southwestern corner of the state. Five main reservoirs collect water, distributing it through 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of canals and 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of lateral distribution ditches.
The North Fork Payette River is a river in the western United States in western Idaho. It flows about 113 miles (182 km) southwards from the Salmon River Mountains to near Banks, where it empties into the Payette River, a tributary of the Snake River. It drains a watershed of 912 square miles (2,360 km2), consisting of mountains and forests, and valleys filled with large lakes and wetlands.
Grassy Lake Dam is a small dam operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Teton County, Wyoming, immediately to the south of Yellowstone National Park. The dam lies in a corridor of Caribou-Targhee National Forest that runs between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The dam structure and outlets are within a few hundred feet of the south boundary of Yellowstone. The zoned earthfill dam was built between 1937 and 1939 as part of the Minidoka Project, which provides water to irrigate farmland in Idaho's Snake River Plain.
Deer Flat Upper Embankment is a dam in the western United States in southwestern Idaho. Located in the Treasure Valley in Canyon County, it is directly southwest of Nampa.
Little Camas Dam is an earthfill type dam on Little Camas Creek, in Elmore County, Idaho, United States. Its reservoir is called Little Camas Reservoir and is northeast of Mountain Home and about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Anderson Ranch Dam. The dam is owned by the Mountain Home Irrigation District and does not produce electricity. The reservoir is surrounded primarily by Boise National Forest land but also state and private land.
The Deadwood River is a 43.5-mile (70.0 km) tributary of the South Fork Payette River, flowing through Boise National Forest in Valley and Boise counties, Idaho in the United States. It joins the South Fork Payette River about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Lowman. The source of the Deadwood River is below the Deadwood summit on forest road 579 in the Salmon River Mountains. The Deadwood Dam was completed in 1931 and impounded the river to form Deadwood Reservoir.
