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134-512: Boise National Forest is a National Forest covering 2,203,703 acres (8,918.07 km) 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. The Idaho Batholith underlies most of Boise National Forest, forming

268-472: A co-dominion of interests in the region in lieu of a settlement. In 1840, American Charles Wilkes explored in the area. John McLoughlin , Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company , headquartered at Fort Vancouver, was the de facto local political authority for most of this time. This arrangement ended as U.S. settlement grew and President James K. Polk was elected on a platform of calling for annexation of

402-691: A deep and wide gorge around the rim of the Columbia Plateau and through the Cascade Range on its way to the Pacific Ocean. Because many areas have plentiful rainfall and mild summers, the Pacific Northwest has some of North America's most lush and extensive forests, which are extensively populated with Coast Douglas fir trees, the second tallest growing evergreen conifer on earth. The region also contains specimens of

536-550: A diversity of cultures and societies. Some areas were home to mobile and egalitarian societies. Others, especially along major rivers such as the Columbia and Fraser, had very complex, affluent, sedentary societies rivaling those of the coast. In British Columbia and Southeast Alaska, the Haida and Tlingit erected large and elaborately carved totem poles that have become iconic of Pacific Northwest artistic traditions. Throughout

670-900: A flowering plant endemic to Idaho. The Shoshone people occupied the forest before European settlers arrived in the early 19th century. Many of the early settlers were trappers and prospectors before gold was discovered in 1862. After the 1860s Boise Basin gold rush ended, mining of tungsten , silver, antimony , and gold continued in the forest until the mid-twentieth century. Recreation facilities include over 70 campgrounds, whitewater and flatwater boating, cabin rentals, and 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of trails for hiking, biking, horseback riding, and motorized off-road vehicle use. The Forest Service has an objective to maintain timber, range, water, recreation, and wildlife for multiple use and sustained yield of its resources. Archaeological evidence indicates that human habitation in Idaho began towards

804-436: A maximum of 346,500 acres (1,402 km) in 2007 and a minimum of 152 acres (0.62 km) in 2008. For example, in 2012 there were 26 fires started by people and 109 started by lightning, which together burned a total of 152,000 acres (620 km). The Trinity Ridge Fire alone burned 146,800 acres (594 km) over two months, although it was not confined to Boise National Forest lands. The revised 2010 forest plan recognized

938-691: A nation of hunters". Maritime fur trader Charles William Barkley also visited the area in Imperial Eagle , a British ship falsely flying the flag of the Austrian Empire . American merchant sea-captain Robert Gray traded along the coast, and discovered the mouth of the Columbia River . Explorer Alexander Mackenzie completed in 1793 the first continental crossing in what is called today central British Columbia and reached

1072-653: A part of the Great Basin Desert , although by their northern and eastern reaches, dry land and desert areas verge at the end of the Cascades' and Coast Mountains ' rain shadows with the boreal forest and various alpine flora regimes characteristic of eastern British Columbia, the Idaho Panhandle and western Montana roughly along a longitudinal line defined by the Idaho border with Washington and Oregon. The North American inland temperate rainforest

1206-567: A population of approximately 530,000), the Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia interior (about 350,000 people centered around the city of Kelowna, which has close to 200,000 people). Large geographical areas may only have one mid-sized to small-sized city as a regional center (often a county seat), with smaller cities and towns scattered around. Vast areas of the region may have little or no population at all, largely due to

1340-478: A sensitive species in the forest. The few amphibians present in the forest include the Rocky Mountain tailed frog , long-toed salamander , and Columbia spotted frog , which has been listed as a sensitive species. Common snakes include bullsnakes , garter snakes , and rubber boas . Boise National Forest's 2010 forest plan recognizes that fire and other disturbances play important roles in maintaining

1474-488: A shift to higher shrub and tree densities. An estimated 14 percent of the land in Boise National Forest has been affected by fires since the early 1990s, and about 10 percent of the land capable of timber production was burned so severely that land cover shifted from forest to grass and shrubland (as of 2010). Between 2004 and 2013 an average of 74,325 acres (300.78 km) were burned by fires per year with

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1608-565: A suitable harbor to repair his ailing ship. On June 17, Drake and his crew found a protected cove when they landed on the Pacific coast of what is now Northern California. While ashore, he claimed the area for Queen Elizabeth I as Nova Albion or New Albion . Juan de Fuca , a Greek captain sailing for the Crown of Spain , supposedly found the Strait of Juan de Fuca around 1592. The strait

1742-602: A third Spanish expedition, under the command of Ignacio de Artega in the ship Princesa , and with Quadra as captain of the ship Favorite , sailed from Mexico to the coast of Alaska, reaching 61° N . Two further Spanish expeditions, in 1788 and 1789, both under Esteban Jose Martínez and Gonzalo López de Haro , sailed to the Pacific Northwest. During the second expedition, they met the American captain Robert Gray near Nootka Sound . Upon entering Nootka Sound, they found William Douglas and his ship Iphigenia . Conflict led to

1876-685: A very large presence in Tacoma's Hilltop and South Tacoma neighborhoods, Seattle's Central District and Rainier Valley neighborhoods, and in Portland's Northeast Quadrant. There are growing numbers in Vancouver as well, particularly Africans, Jamaicans and Black people from the United States. Beginning in the late 20th century, a general suburbanization of East and South Asian communities occurred in Vancouver, prompting concerns regarding

2010-796: Is a diverse geographic region, dominated by several mountain ranges, including the Coast Mountains , the Cascade Range , the Olympic Mountains , the Columbia Mountains , and the Rocky Mountains . The highest peak in the Pacific Northwest is Mount Rainier, in the Washington Cascades, at 14,410 feet (4,392 m). Immediately inland from the Cascade Range are broad, generally dry plateaus. In

2144-702: Is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common conception includes the U.S. states of Oregon , Washington , Idaho , and the Canadian province of British Columbia . Some broader conceptions reach north into Alaska and Yukon , south into northern California , and east into western Montana . Other conceptions may be limited to

2278-444: Is a plant species endemic to central Idaho, including parts of Boise National Forest, being found nowhere else in the world. Only about two dozen populations of the plant are known to exist, and three-quarters of these are in Boise National Forest. It is usually found at elevations ranging from 5,000 feet (1,500 m) to 9,500 feet (2,900 m) above sea level and produces white flowers shortly after snowmelt. Boise National Forest

2412-477: Is bull trout because they are sensitive to habitat changes and depend on specific habitat conditions. Sockeye salmon are native to the Salmon River watershed in the northern part of the forest, but dam construction on the Columbia and Snake rivers has hampered the migration of this anadromous fish and caused its population to collapse. Warm Lake supports the forest's only native population of Kokanee salmon,

2546-663: Is closely associated with the North Central Rockies forests ecoregion designated by the WWF , which extends over a similar range but incorporates various non-temperate rainforest ecosystems. The overwhelming majority of the population of the Pacific Northwest is concentrated in the Portland–Seattle–Vancouver corridor. As of 2016, the combined populations of the Lower Mainland region (which includes

2680-586: Is defined as being the Northwestern United States specifically, excluding Canada . The Pacific Northwest has been occupied by a diverse array of indigenous peoples for millennia. The Pacific Coast is seen by some scholars as a major coastal migration route in the settlement of the Americas by late Pleistocene peoples moving from northeast Asia into the Americas. The coastal migration hypothesis has been bolstered by findings such as

2814-637: Is directed by the U.S. Forest Service to "control the establishment, spread, or invasion of non-indigenous plant species in otherwise healthy native vegetative ecosystems." The forest's plan addresses the need to control invasive plants , and management efforts include chemical, mechanical, and biological control methods . Invasive plants that are of particular concern in Boise National Forest include spotted knapweed , yellow star-thistle , rush skeletonweed , and leafy spurge , among others. The warmest, driest forested areas occur on south-facing slopes from 3,000 feet (910 m) to 6,500 feet (2,000 m). Due to

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2948-448: Is due to immigration quotas at the federal level, as while Canada has one-tenth the population of the United States, it takes in one-quarter as many immigrants, many of whom are from Asia. Vancouver settled about a quarter of all emigrants from Hong Kong to Canada in the late 1980s. In the U.S. side of the region, Latinos make up a large portion of the agricultural labor force east of the Cascade Range, and are an increasing presence in

3082-489: Is forest, which according to the Forest Service is considered land capable of supporting trees on at least 50 percent of its area. The forests are primarily coniferous evergreens , dominated by Douglas fir and ponderosa and lodgepole pines at lower elevations and Engelmann spruce , subalpine fir , and whitebark pine at higher elevations. Grand fir and western larch (a coniferous deciduous tree) grow in

3216-550: Is generally open from April through November. The forest's Trinity Mountain Recreation Area includes the highest drivable (4-wheel drive recommended) road in Idaho, which ascends to the Trinity Mountain Lookout at an elevation of over 9,400 feet (2,900 m). In 2013 revenues from recreation and special use fees amounted to $ 454,635, while expenses totaled US$ 352,550 ; the difference is allocated to

3350-543: Is in the so-called interior wet-belt, approximately 500–700 km inland from the Pacific coast on western, windward mountain slopes and valley bottoms of the Columbia Mountains and the Rocky Mountains . The interior wet-belt refers to a discontinuous band of humid forest patches, that are scattered over 1000 km between Purden Lake in Canada's British Columbia (54° North) and Montana and Idaho's Bitterroot Mountains and Idaho's Salmon River Mountains (45° North). It

3484-461: Is managed by a district ranger, while forest headquarters are located in the city of Boise . Congress proclaimed 2,648,273 acres (10,717.18 km) of Idaho part of Boise National Forest, but the forest manages only 2,203,703 acres (8,918.07 km). The proclaimed boundary is set and can only be changed by Congress whereas the administered boundary can be shifted among adjacent national forests without congressional approval. For management (and from

3618-491: Is now Boise National Forest was sparsely inhabited by Native Americans, and several archaeological sites, including campsites, rock shelters, burial grounds, and pictographs have been found along rivers in the area. Trappers and fur traders of European descent first arrived in the area in the early 1800s, starting with John Jacob Astor 's Pacific Fur Company in October 1811. Donald Mackenzie and Francois Payette trapped in

3752-429: Is possible on Vancouver Island due to the mild winters. The Big Dark is a term for winter in the Pacific Northwest. At a latitude of almost 48 degrees north , Seattle has sunsets before 6 PM between October and March, and fewer than nine hours of daylight for many weeks around the winter solstice. The darkness contributes to seasonal affective disorder among people living in northern cities, including those in

3886-433: Is predominant. Lodgepole pine and quaking aspen may be found alongside Douglas fir in cooler areas, both moist and dry, but particularly where frost pockets form. Understories in this forest type are dominated by mountain maple , mountain ash , and blue huckleberry in moister areas and white spirea, common snowberry, elk sedge, and pinegrass in drier areas. Between 3,400 feet (1,000 m) and 6,500 feet (2,000 m) in

4020-664: Is signed as the Banks-Lowman Road. The Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway is a 130-mile (210 km) road between Stanley and Boise following Idaho State Highway 21 . This route passes over Arrowrock Reservoir and through Idaho City and Lowman, where it connects with the Wildlife Canyon Byway. North and east of Lowman the byway partially follows the South Fork of the Payette River before ascending to

4154-507: Is stocked with coho salmon and steelhead, the anadromous form of rainbow trout. Over 270 bird species have been observed in central Idaho, including 36 accidental species – those that are not normally found in the region but have been observed on at least one occasion. Golden eagles and greater sage-grouse can be found over sagebrush steppe, whereas bald eagles can be seen along rivers. The Forest Service has listed northern goshawks , flammulated owls , and white-headed woodpeckers as

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4288-733: Is the largest of the world's temperate rain forest ecoregions in the system created by the World Wildlife Fund , stretches along the coast from Alaska to California. The dry desert inland from the Cascade Range and Coast Mountains is very different from the terrain and climate of the coastal area due to the rain shadow effect of the mountains, and comprises the Columbia, Fraser and Thompson Plateaus and mountain ranges contained within them. The interior regions' climates largely within Eastern Washington, south central British Columbia, Eastern Oregon, and southern Idaho are

4422-734: Is to the north of Boise National Forest. In 1933 the Boise Basin Experimental Forest was created on 8,740 acres (35.4 km) of the forest near Idaho City to study the management of ponderosa pine . The Lucky Peak Nursery was established in 1959 to produce trees for planting on burned or logged lands on the national forests of the Intermountain region . After the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933, nine camps and eight subcamps were set up in Boise National Forest, but

4556-836: Is within the Idaho Batholith ecoregion , which is a level III ecoregion in the larger level I Northwestern Forested Mountains . In addition to species listed or proposed for listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act , the Forest Service maintains an independent listing of sensitive species for which it is directed to "develop and implement management practices to ensure that species do not become threatened or endangered because of Forest Service actions." As of February 2013 there were 27 species in Boise National Forest listed as sensitive species: 6 mammals, 1 amphibian, 1 fish, 13 birds, and 6 plants. An estimated 76 percent of Boise National Forest

4690-626: The 1700 Cascadia earthquake . The geological record reveals that "great earthquakes" (those with moment magnitude 8 or higher) occur in the Cascadia subduction zone about every 500 years on average, often accompanied by tsunamis . There is evidence of at least 13 events at intervals from about 300 to 900 years. Active volcanoes in the region include Mount Garibaldi , Mount Baker , Mount Rainier , Mount St. Helens , Mount Adams , Mount Hood , Mount Meager , Mount Jefferson , Mount Shasta , Lassen Peak and Glacier Peak . The Pacific Northwest

4824-540: The Canadian province of British Columbia. Broader definitions of the region have included the U.S. states of Alaska and parts of the states of California, Montana, and Wyoming, and the Canadian territory of Yukon . Definitions based on the historic Oregon Country reach east to the Continental Divide , thus including all of western Montana and western Wyoming . Sometimes, the Pacific Northwest

4958-582: The Discovery Islands , charting the coastline together. They passed through Johnstone Strait and Cordero Channel and returned to Nootka Sound. As a result, the Spanish explorers, who had set out from Nootka, became the first Europeans to circumnavigate Vancouver Island. Vancouver himself had entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca directly without going to Nootka first, so had not sailed completely around

5092-538: The Garden Valley system in the Emmett Ranger District and several Mongolian-style yurts available for rental in winter. Boise National Forest is home to three of Idaho's scenic byways, all of which are paved highways accessible to roadworthy vehicles. The Payette River Scenic Byway is an 80-mile (130 km) route between Eagle and McCall on Idaho State Highway 55 . The route follows

5226-589: The Inside Passage , even though it is not an official international waterway. Disputes between British Columbia and Alaska over the Dixon Entrance of the Hecate Strait between Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii have not been resolved. The Northwest is still highly geologically active, with both active volcanoes and geologic faults . The last known great earthquake in the northwest was

5360-572: The Lewis and Clark Expedition to travel through the Midwest starting from St. Louis , cross the Continental Divide and reach the Columbia River up to its mouth. Americans reached the Pacific Ocean "overland" in 1805. The Pacific Fur Company sent in 1811 an "over-lander" crew including a large contingent of Voyageurs to retrace most of the path of the earlier expedition up to the mouth of

5494-746: The Metro Vancouver Regional District ), the Seattle metropolitan area , and the Portland metropolitan area totaled more than nine million people. However, beyond these three cities, the PNW region is characterized by a very low density population distribution. Some other regions of greater population density outside this corridor include the Greater Victoria area and Greater Nanaimo area on Southern Vancouver Island (with

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5628-495: The National Park Service , extraction of natural resources from national forests is permitted, and in many cases encouraged. Forest products are the resources removed and harvested from national forests. They may be for commercial or personal use such as “lumber, paper, and firewood as well as 'special forest products' such as medicinal herbs, fungi, edible fruits and nuts, and other natural products”. However,

5762-607: The Nootka Crisis , which was resolved by agreements known as the Nootka Convention . In 1790, the Spanish sent three ships to Nootka Sound, under the command of Francisco de Eliza . After establishing a base at Nootka, Eliza sent out several exploration parties. Salvador Fidalgo was sent north to the Alaska coast. Manuel Quimper , with Gonzalo López de Haro as pilot, explored the Strait of Juan de Fuca, discovering

5896-478: The Nootka Sound Conventions , the last in 1794, Spain gave up its exclusive a priori claims and agreed to share the region with the other powers , giving up its garrison at Nootka Sound in the process. The United States established a claim based on the discoveries of Robert Gray , the Lewis and Clark Expedition , the construction of Fort Astoria, and the acquisition of Spanish claims given to

6030-758: The North West Company (NWC). During the 1820s, the upper Willamette, the Umpqua , the Rogue , the Klamath were all reached still heading southward up toward the Sacramento River and California under the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) having now itself acquired the NWC. The Siskiyou Trail was gradually being established by Alexander Roderick McLeod and Peter Skene Ogden leading related expeditions for

6164-597: The North West Company , the Pacific Fur Company or the Hudson's Bay Company include: Fort Saint-James (1806; oldest in British Columbia west of the Rockies), Fort Astoria (1811; oldest in Oregon), Fort Nez Percés (1818), Fort Alexandria (1821), Fort Vancouver (1824), Fort Langley (1827; oldest in southern British Columbia), Fort Nisqually (1833), and Fort Victoria (1843). Also of interest are

6298-503: The Northwest Territories of Canada . The region is sometimes referred to as Cascadia, which, depending on the borders, may or may not be the same thing as the Pacific Northwest. The region's largest metropolitan areas are Greater Seattle , Washington, with 4 million people; Metro Vancouver , British Columbia, with 2.84 million people; and Greater Portland , Oregon, with 2.5 million people. The culture of

6432-656: The Olympic Peninsula near the mouth of the Quinault River . On August 17, 1775, Heceta, returning south, sighted the mouth of the Columbia River and named it Bahia de la Asunción . While Heceta sailed south, Quadra continued north in the expedition's second ship, Sonora , reaching Alaska , at 59° N . In 1778 English mariner Captain James Cook visited Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island and also voyaged as far as Prince William Sound . In 1779,

6566-538: The Oregon Coast , Burrard Inlet , Puget Sound , and the highly complex fjords of the British Columbia Coast and Southeast Alaska . The region has one of the world's longest fjord coastlines. The Pacific Northwest contains an uncountable number of islands, many of the smaller ones being unnamed. The vast majority of such islands are in British Columbia and Alaska. Vancouver Island is by far

6700-404: The Oregon Territory in 1848. It was later subdivided into Oregon Territory and Washington Territory . These territories became the states of Oregon, Idaho, Washington and parts of other Western states. During the American Civil War , British Columbia officials pushed for London to invade and conquer the Washington Territory in effort to take advantage of Americans being distracted in the war on

6834-452: The Pacific Ocean . Simon Fraser explored and mapped the Fraser River from Central British Columbia down to its mouth in 1808. And mapmaker David Thompson explored in 1811 the entire route of the Columbia River from its northern headwaters all the way to its mouth. These explorations were commissioned by the North West Company and were all undertaken with small teams of Voyageurs . United States President Thomas Jefferson commissioned

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6968-407: The Puget Sound region . The darkness is enhanced by a return from dry summers to extremely cloudy and wet weather characterized by recurring atmospheric rivers and Pacific Northwest windstorms . Much of the Pacific Northwest is forested. The Georgia Strait – Puget Sound basin is shared between western British Columbia and Washington, and the Pacific temperate rain forests ecoregion, which

7102-422: The San Juan and Gulf Island chains. The major cities of Vancouver, Portland , Seattle , and Tacoma all began as seaports supporting the logging, mining, and farming industries of the region, but have developed into major technological and industrial centers (such as the Silicon Forest ), which benefit from their location on the Pacific Rim . If defined as British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and Washington,

7236-559: The San Juan Islands and Admiralty Inlet in the process. Francisco de Eliza himself took the ship San Carlos into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. From a base at Port Discovery , his pilotos ( masters ) José María Narváez and Juan Carrasco explored the San Juan Islands , Haro Strait , Rosario Strait , and Bellingham Bay . In the process, they discovered the Strait of Georgia and explored it as far north as Texada Island . The expedition returned to Nootka Sound by August 1791. Alessandro Malaspina , sailing for Spain, explored and mapped

7370-401: The Snake River , which itself is a tributary of the Columbia River in the Pacific basin . Daily high temperatures range from 9 to 29 °F (−13 to −2 °C) in winter to 80 to 90 °F (27 to 32 °C) in summer, while lower elevations can experience conditions over 100 °F (38 °C). Idaho's mountain ranges can block Arctic air in the winter, but when cold air masses do enter

7504-403: The Trump administration encouraged more forest products to be harvested in order to support a struggling economy. There was a plan to develop around 190 million acres of protected National Forests in order to increase logging, grazing, and energy resources. This would be facilitated through shrinking the rules and regulations required to get permits to conduct such business. In October 2020,

7638-489: The grasslands , shrublands , and forest understory are grazed by sheep , cattle, and more recently, rising numbers of elk and mule deer due to loss of predators . Many ski resorts and summer resorts operate on leased land in national forests. National forests include 14 national monuments where resource extraction is restricted. Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest ( PNW ; French : Nord-Ouest Pacifique ), sometimes referred to as Cascadia ,

7772-485: The tallest trees on earth, the coast redwoods , in southwestern Oregon, but the largest of these trees are located just south of the California border in northwestern California. Coastal forests in some areas are classified as temperate rainforest . Coastal features are defined by the interaction with the Pacific and the North American continent. The coastline of the Pacific Northwest is dotted by numerous fjords, bays, islands, and mountains. Some of these features include

7906-401: The 1870s and the 1880s, though no cross-border attacks were experienced. During the Alaska Boundary Dispute , U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt threatened to invade and annex British Columbia if Britain would not yield on the question of the Yukon ports. In more recent times, during the so-called " Salmon War " of the 1990s, Washington Senator Slade Gorton called for the U.S. Navy to "force"

8040-426: The 1990s but have not progressed. Of the 28 fish species present in the forest, 11 are not native and have been introduced by humans. Rainbow trout , chinook salmon , westslope cutthroat trout , bull trout , and mountain whitefish are all native to some of the forest's waterways, while brook trout are a common invasive species that compete with the forest's salmonids . The forest's management indicator species

8174-420: The 7,037-foot (2,145 m) Banner Creek Summit at the forest's boundary with Salmon-Challis National Forest. United States National Forest The Land Revision Act of 1891 , enacted during the presidency of Benjamin Harrison , allowed the president to set aside forest reserves on public lands. Harrison established 15 forest reserves containing more than 13 million acres of land. The bill

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8308-425: The Columbia and join the company ship. The Tonquin came oversea via Cape Horn to build and operate Fort Astoria . These early land expeditions mapped the way for subsequent land explorations and building early settlements. The Willamette River was the first PNW inland waterway to be explored north–south during trapping expeditions carried out throughout the 1810s by the Pacific Fur Company soon acquired by

8442-445: The Columbia. Noteworthy Russian settlements still in place include: Unalaska (1774), Kodiak (1791), and Sitka (1804) making them the oldest permanent non-Indigenous settlements in the Pacific Northwest. Temporary Spanish settlement Santa Cruz de Nuca (1789–1795) held on a few years at Nootka Sound . Other early occupation non-Indigenous settlements of interest, either long lasting or still in place, built and operated by either

8576-463: The Eastern region. This was rejected, as the UK did not wish to risk war with the United States, whose forces were better prepared and trained much more than the British troops. American expansionist pressure on British Columbia persisted after the colony became a province of Canada, even though Americans living in the province did not harbor annexationist inclinations. The Fenian Brotherhood openly organized and drilled in Washington, particularly in

8710-450: The European population contains large communities of English Canadians , Scottish Canadians , Irish Canadians , French Canadians , German Canadians , and many others. Europeans form between 80 and 90 per cent of the population in U.S. section of the Pacific Northwest, thus the Asian presence is comparably smaller, with all Asian groups together comprising about 8% of Washington state's population, and less than 4% in Oregon and Idaho. This

8844-421: The Federal Government's participation in this effort and repeal the current $ 30 million annual funding cap for the Reforestation Trust Fund. The United States national forest comprises about 132 million acres. There are 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands containing 193 million acres (297,000 mi /769 000 km ) of land. These lands comprise 8.5 percent of the total land area of

8978-466: The Forest Service to identify, investigate, and protect cultural resources on lands it manages. The U.S. Forest Service also manages all of the United States national grasslands and nearly 50% of the United States national recreation areas . Land management of these areas focuses on conservation , timber harvesting , livestock grazing , watershed protection, wildlife , and recreation . Unlike national parks and other federal lands managed by

9112-421: The HBC. Also during the 1820s, HBC explorations were carried out northward originating from the Columbia River Fort Astoria long renamed to Fort George. Simon Plamondon first ventured during the early 20s into the Cowlitz River up to Cowlitz Prairie . By 1824, an expedition led by James McMillan was reaching Puget Sound via the Chehalis River (Washington) and a portage. The same expedition went on all

9246-493: The North Fork Range are subranges of the Salmon River Mountains within Boise National Forest. The Boise Mountains cover much of the southern portion of the forest and contain the forest's highest point, Steel Mountain, but the range's highest point, Two Point Mountain , lies outside of the forest's boundary. The Trinity Mountains are a subrange in southeastern part of the Boise Mountains that reach their peak at 9,451 feet (2,881 m) on Trinity Mountain . The westernmost portion of

9380-405: The Northwest Coast, they found one of the world's most complex hunting and fishing societies, with large sedentary villages, large houses, systems of social rank and prestige, extensive trade networks, and many other factors more commonly associated with societies based on domesticated agriculture. In the interior of the Pacific Northwest, the indigenous peoples, at the time of European contact, had

9514-467: The Pacific Northwest are temperate; cool temperatures and frequent cloudy skies are typical. Under the Köppen climate classification , a warm-summer Mediterranean ( Csb ) designation is assigned to many areas of the Pacific Northwest as far north as central Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands , including cities such as Victoria , Vancouver (coast area), Seattle, and Portland. Other climate classification systems, such as Trewartha , place these areas in

9648-600: The Pacific Northwest has four US National Parks : Crater Lake in Oregon, and Olympic , Mount Rainier , and North Cascades in Washington. If a larger regional definition is used, then other US National Parks might be included, such as Redwood National and State Parks , Glacier Bay National Park , Wrangell–St. Elias National Park , Grand Teton National Park , and parts of Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park . There are several Canadian National Parks in

9782-591: The Pacific Northwest is influenced by the Canada–United States border , which the United States and the United Kingdom established at a time when the region's inhabitants were composed mostly of indigenous peoples . Two sections of the border—one along the 49th parallel south of British Columbia and one between the Alaska Panhandle and northern British Columbia—have left a great impact on

9916-671: The Pacific Northwest, including Pacific Rim National Park on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Mount Revelstoke National Park and Glacier National Park in the Selkirk Range alongside Rogers Pass , Kootenay National Park and Yoho National Park on the British Columbia flank of the Rockies, Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve in Haida Gwaii, and the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve in

10050-581: The Pacific Northwest, thousands of indigenous people live, and some continue to practice their rich cultural traditions, "organizing their societies around cedar and salmon". In 1579, the British captain and erstwhile privateer Francis Drake sailed up the west coast of North America perhaps as far as Oregon before returning south to land and make ship repairs. On 5 June 1579, the ship briefly made first landfall at South Cove, Cape Arago, just south of Coos Bay, Oregon , and then sailed south while searching for

10184-401: The Payette River between McCall and Horseshoe Bend , but the majority of the highway does not pass through Boise National Forest; only a small portion north of Horseshoe Bend is in the Emmett Ranger District. Over half of the 35-mile (56 km) Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway, which travels between highway 55 and Lowman, passes through the forest, parallels the South Fork of the Payette River, and

10318-537: The Salmon River and Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. Motorized boating is permitted on Anderson Ranch Reservoir , Deadwood Reservoir , and Warm Lake . During winter, visitors to the forest can participate in activities including snowmobiling , snowshoeing , and downhill and cross-country skiing . The Bogus Basin ski area is located within the forest north of Boise and has 7 chairlifts and 53 runs on 2,600 acres (11 km) of skiable terrain. There are 137 miles (220 km) of groomed snowmobile trails in

10452-423: The Spanish settlement and Fort San Miguel . Quadra sent Caamaño north, to carefully explore the coast between Vancouver Island and Bucareli Bay , Alaska. Various Spanish maps, including Caamaño's, were given to George Vancouver in 1792, as the Spanish and British worked together to chart the complex coastline. From 1792 to 1794, George Vancouver charted the Pacific Northwest on behalf of Great Britain, including

10586-559: The Stibnite area became the country's largest producer of tungsten and second largest source of mercury. The most important known placer deposit of niobium and tantalum in the United States is located in Bear Valley. From 1953 until 1959, dredges there produced $ 12.5 million ($ 131 million today) in niobium, tantalum, and uranium . Other minerals mined in the forest include antimony and molybdenum . Boise National Forest

10720-527: The Strait of Georgia, the bays and inlets of Puget Sound , and the Johnstone Strait – Queen Charlotte Strait and much of the rest of the British Columbia Coast and southeast Alaska shorelines. For him the city of Vancouver and Vancouver Island are named, as well as Vancouver, Washington . From Mexico, Malaspina dispatched the last Spanish exploration expedition in the Pacific Northwest, under Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayentano Valdes aboard

10854-484: The Strait of Georgia. There are numerous protected areas in British Columbia and in the United States . Other outstanding natural features include the Columbia River Gorge , Fraser Canyon , Mount St. Helens , Malaspina Glacier , and Hells Canyon . The south-central Coast Mountains in British Columbia contain the five largest mid-latitude icefields in the world. The main general climatic types of

10988-862: The Trinity Mountains, Warm Lake, and Deadwood and Sage Hen reservoirs. As in most national forests, the majority of the land in Boise National Forest is open to dispersed camping (outside of developed campgrounds). One of the forest's fire lookouts, Deadwood Lookout, is now available as a cabin for the public to rent, among other sites. Bicycles are allowed on forest roads and on more than 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of multiple-use trails, whereas over 1,200 miles (1,900 km) of trails are open to motorized recreation. The Danskin Mountains Off-Highway Vehicle Trail System contains 150 miles (240 km) of motorcycle and ATV trails on 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) of land that

11122-723: The Trinity and West mountains. Annual water yield on the forest is estimated at 4.1 million acre-feet (5.1  billion cubic meters ). The southern portion of the forest is drained by the Boise River, the central and western portions by the Payette River , northeastern portion by the Salmon River , and far western portions of the Emmett Ranger District by the Weiser River . All four rivers are tributaries of

11256-635: The Trump administration proclaimed its goal of "strengthening markets for wood products and incentivizing innovative manufacturing techniques" and reported "The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service sold 3.3 billion board feet of timber from national forests in fiscal year 2019 — the highest output since 1997". Furthermore, President Trump signed an executive order to "establish the United States One Trillion Trees Interagency Council" in order to further

11390-716: The US, this region is known as the Columbia Plateau , while in British Columbia, it is the Interior Plateau , also called the Fraser Plateau . The Columbia Plateau was the scene of massive ice-age floods, and as a consequence, there are many coulees , canyons, and the Channeled Scablands . Much of the plateau, especially in eastern Washington, is irrigated farmland . The Columbia River cuts

11524-640: The United States in the Adams–Onís Treaty . From the 1810s until the 1840s, modern-day Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana, along with most of British Columbia, were part of what the United States called the Oregon Country and Britain called the Columbia District . This region was jointly claimed by the United States and Great Britain after the Treaty of 1818 , which established

11658-558: The United States, an area about the size of Texas . About 87 percent of national forest land lies in the Western United States , mostly in mountain ranges. Alaska has 12 percent of all national forest lands. Within the national forest system, there are 1,200 sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places and 23 are National Historic Landmarks . The National Historic Preservation Act requires

11792-634: The area of Boise National Forest in 1819. By 1840, the fur trade was coming to an end, but the westward migration on the Oregon Trail , which passed south of the forest, was beginning. The first settlers moved into the mountains in the 1860s after gold was discovered in Idaho, which forced many of the Shoshone out and led to conflicts throughout the state, including the Bannock War in southern Idaho. Prospectors George Grimes and Moses Splawn were

11926-518: The area, they sometimes stagnate in the Snake and Salmon river valleys, causing very cold temperatures to persist. Summer and fall are generally dry, while intense short-duration thunderstorms can occur in late spring and early summer as atmospheric moisture interacts with warm temperatures and steep topography via orographic lifting . During winter, warm, moist air from the Pacific Ocean often brings rain at lower elevations in addition to snowfall throughout

12060-711: The authority of the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1849. With the passage of the Transfer Act of 1905 , forest reserves were transferred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the newly created U.S. Forest Service . Present-day Boise National Forest was first protected as part of two forest reserves by proclamations issued by President Theodore Roosevelt : Sawtooth Forest Reserve (created on May 29, 1905, and expanded on November 6, 1906) and Payette Forest Reserve (created on June 3, 1905). After forest reserves were renamed national forests in 1908, Boise National Forest

12194-579: The border disputes (see Pig War ). The mainland territory north of the 49th parallel remained unincorporated until 1858, when a mass influx of Americans and others during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush forced the hand of Colony of Vancouver Island 's Governor James Douglas , who declared the mainland a Crown colony . The two colonies were amalgamated in 1866 to cut costs, and joined the Dominion of Canada in 1871. The U.S. portion became

12328-523: The character and function of ecosystems . However, previous management strategies (as recently as the 1990 forest plan) treated fire as an undesirable process, and the Organic Act of 1897 explicitly stated that forests were to be protected from destruction by fire. In historic conditions fires naturally occurred on the landscape; the suppression of fires allowed dead trees to accumulate in excess of historic levels and land cover types to change, such as

12462-503: The coast from Yakutat Bay to Prince William Sound in 1791, then sailed to Nootka Sound. Performing a scientific expedition in the manner of James Cook, Malaspina's scientists studied the Tlingit and Nuu-chah-nulth peoples before returning to Mexico. Another Spanish explorer, Jacinto Caamaño , sailed the ship Aranzazu to Nootka Sound in May 1792. There he met Quadra, who was in command of

12596-739: The coastal areas west of the Cascade and Coast mountains. The Northwest Coast is the coastal region of the Pacific Northwest, and the Northwest Plateau (also commonly known as " the Interior " in British Columbia), is the inland region. The term "Pacific Northwest" should not be confused with the Northwest Territory (also known as the Great Northwest, a historical term in the United States) or

12730-576: The coastal migration hypothesis is still subject to considerable debate. Due in part to the richness of Pacific Northwest Coast and river fisheries, some of the indigenous peoples developed complex sedentary societies, while remaining hunter-gatherers . The Pacific Northwest Coast is one of the few places where politically complex hunter-gatherers evolved and survived to historic contacts, and therefore has been vital for anthropologists and archaeologists seeking to understand how complex hunter and gatherer societies function. When Europeans first arrived on

12864-673: The end of the last ice age : bone fragments about 10,000 years old have been found in Wilson Butte Cave , an inflationary cave on the Snake River Plain believed to have been occupied by indigenous people until as recently as the 17th century. A change of climate around 7000 years ago dried up much of the Great Basin , forcing the Shoshone people northward into the mountainous areas of central Idaho. Most of what

12998-527: The entire Oregon Country and of Texas. After his election, supporters coined the famous slogan "Fifty-four Forty or Fight", referring to 54°40′ north latitude —the northward limit of the United States' claim. After a war scare with the United Kingdom, the Oregon boundary dispute was settled in the 1846 Oregon Treaty , partitioning the region along the 49th parallel and resolving most, but not all, of

13132-679: The first mixed ancestry settlements sometimes referred as Métis settlements or French Canadian settlements. Native and newly arrived "half-breeds" (born out of "Europeans" and Indigenous alliances), local and newly arrived Indigenous people as well as "French Canadians" all issued of the fur trade were all able to peacefully coexist. Small scale farming occurred. Catholic missions and churches thrived for many years. These first settlements were: French Prairie , Frenchtown near Walla Walla, Cowlitz Prairie (Washington), French Settlement (Oregon) and Frenchtown near Missoula. Most mixed ancestry people ended up resettled in or around Indigenous reserves during

13266-574: The first to discover gold in the forest at the eponymous Grimes Creek on August 2, 1862. Subsequent gold discoveries at Rocky Bar in 1863 and Atlanta in 1864 increased the rush of people to Idaho, and in 1863 Idaho City, with a population of 6,267, surpassed Portland, Oregon as the largest city in the Pacific Northwest . The Idaho gold rush was largely over by 1870, and the population of the Boise Basin fell from 16,000 to 3,500. In 1898

13400-634: The first-designated wilderness areas , and some of the largest, are on national forest lands. There are management decision conflicts between conservationists and environmentalists and natural resource extraction companies and lobbies (e.g. logging & mining) over the protection and/or use of national forest lands. These conflicts center on endangered species protection, logging of old-growth forests , intensive clear cut logging , undervalued stumpage fees, mining operations and mining claim laws, and logging/mining access roadbuilding within national forests. Additional conflicts arise from concerns that

13534-477: The following season's startup costs. Rivers in Boise National Forest offer the opportunity for rafting and kayaking through rapids up to class four , with the most difficult sections on the South Fork and main stems of the Payette River. Numerous developed boat launch sites provide access to rivers for whitewater enthusiasts, and Dagger Falls is the primary launching site for visitors to the Middle Fork of

13668-648: The forest is underlain by the Idaho Batholith , and the forest is dominated by granitic rock, but intrusions of basalt can be found to the west and other volcanic rocks to the south. North of the South Fork Payette River and east of the North Fork Payette River, the forest is part of the Salmon River Mountains, which extend north and east outside the forest's boundaries. The South Fork Salmon River Range and

13802-535: The forest south and west of Lake Cascade are part of the West Mountains, which reach their highest point at 8,320 feet (2,540 m) on Snowbank Mountain . The Danskin Mountains are a smaller range on the forest's southern border that run northwest to southeast. There are an estimated 9,600 miles (15,400 km) of perennial and intermittent streams and 15,400 acres (62 km) of lakes and reservoirs in

13936-438: The forest's Boise , Salmon River , and West mountain ranges; the forest reaches a maximum elevation of 9,730 feet (2,970 m) on Steel Mountain . Common land cover includes sagebrush steppe and spruce-fir forests ; there are 9,600 miles (15,400 km) of streams and rivers and 15,400 acres (62 km) of lakes and reservoirs. Boise National Forest contains 75 percent of the known populations of Sacajawea's bitterroot ,

14070-546: The forest's first gold dredge was built in Placerville and followed by several others. By 1951, when the last dredges shut down, at least 2.3 million ounces (65.2 million grams) of gold had been produced from the Boise Basin area. Silver was mined along the Crooked River from 1882 until 1921, but a silver mine at Silver Mountain proved unsuccessful. Following a shortage of mercury during World War II , mines in

14204-524: The forest. The Forest Service provides access to and recreation opportunities at the seven reservoirs it borders, although it does not own or manage them. There are numerous natural lakes in the forest, most of which are tarns created by alpine glaciers during the Pleistocene . The largest, Warm Lake , is 26 miles (42 km) east of Cascade in Valley County; many of the smaller lakes are in

14338-423: The forest. The influence of these Pacific maritime air masses increases as latitude increases in the forest. Average annual snowfall ranges from 55 inches (140 cm) in drier areas and at lower elevations to 70 inches (180 cm) in wetter locations and higher elevations. The growing season within the forest ranges from over 150 days in lower elevations to less than 30 days in alpine areas. Boise National Forest

14472-584: The general labor force west of the Cascades. Despite the Second Great Migration from the 1940s to 1960s due to the booming Boeing war industry and post-war growing economy, African Americans are less numerous in the Pacific Northwest; however, the overall African American population has been growing in other smaller urban areas throughout the region such as Eugene. African Americans tend to concentrate in western urban areas such as Tacoma, south Seattle, and Portland. Nonetheless, Black people have

14606-1419: The highest elevations, forests consist of subalpine fir alongside whitebark pine and Engelmann spruce. Grasses and forbs tolerant to freezing throughout the growing season occupy the understory. Sagebrush typically dominates drier, non-forested areas at lower elevations. Species that commonly occur with sagebrush include Sandberg bluegrass , wild onion , milk vetches , bluebunch wheatgrass, bitterbrush, gray horsebrush , green rabbitbrush , and others. In riparian areas below 5,500 feet (1,700 m), trees such as black cottonwood , narrowleaf cottonwood , thinleaf alder , water birch , and mountain maple grow with shrubs including chokeberry and willows . Riparian areas in largely treeless habitats such as sagebrush steppe primarily consist of willows along with thinleaf alder, chokecherry, mountain maple, shrubby cinquefoil , fireweed , saxifrage , and grasses. Habitats in Boise National Forest support nearly 300 terrestrial vertebrate species and 28 fish species. The most common large animals are mule deer and elk , but other mammals present include moose , black bears , cougar , coyote , yellow-bellied marmot , beaver , porcupine , Canadian lynx , mountain goat , pika , river otter , muskrat , pronghorn , mink , bobcat , marten , and timber wolves . Timber wolves are top predators that were reintroduced amidst controversy to central Idaho in

14740-532: The hot season is associated with high atmospheric pressure . The shadows of the mountains also greatly decrease the amount of precipitation. West of the Cascades , the marine climates have a much greater precipitation than the west coast of Europe due to orographic lift , with some regions seeing as much as 3,500 mm (138 in) of precipitation per year. Winters are very mild for the region's latitude. The growth of Arbutus , an evergreen broad-leafed tree,

14874-494: The island. In 1786, Jean-François de La Pérouse , representing France, sailed to Haida Gwaii after visiting Nootka Sound, but any possible French claims to this region were lost when La Pérouse and his men and journals were lost in a shipwreck near Australia. Upon encountering the Salish coastal tribes, either Pérouse or someone in his crew remarked, "What must astonish most is to see painting everywhere, everywhere sculpture, among

15008-481: The largest island in the area, but other significant land masses include the Haida Gwaii , vast and remote Princess Royal Island , Prince of Wales Island and Chichagof Island . The Salish Sea located close to major populated areas contains smaller but more frequently visited and well known islands. These include Whidbey Island , Salt Spring Island , and Texada Island , along with dozens of smaller islands in

15142-487: The mid-1990s to restore ecosystem stability. The wolves have since expanded their range and established packs in most of Boise National Forest. Wolves and mountain lions are the forest's top large mammal predators and have no predators of their own except humans. Most of the forest's native mammal species are present in the forest, with the exception of grizzly bears , which have become locally extinct , and plans for their reintroduction to central Idaho have been proposed since

15276-821: The moist northern parts of the forest, grand fir is predominant and western larch is one of the first trees to become established during ecological succession following disturbances, whereas understories consist of mountain maple, mountain ash, blue huckleberry, and mallow ninebark. Subalpine fir dominates from 4,800 feet (1,500 m) to 7,500 feet (2,300 m) along with mountain maple, serviceberry , Scouler's willow , Sitka alder , menziesia , Utah honeysuckle , and mountain ash. Lodgepole pine dominates in cold, dry areas from 5,200 feet (1,600 m) to 9,200 feet (2,800 m). The understory in lodgepole pine forests can be sparse but includes grasses, forbs, huckleberries, and grouse whortleberry , although fires in these forests are typically lethal to trees and understories alike. At

15410-612: The need to develop plans to manage wildfires at the wildland–urban interface , use prescribed fire as a tool to manage ecosystem health, and meet air quality requirements set by the Clean Air Act . The forest operates a fire management plan under federal fire policy that gives fire personnel direction for responding to unintended ignitions. Occasionally, area closures and restrictions on use, such as prohibition of campfires, are implemented to aid in wildfire prevention. Following severe fires, area closures may be put in place to protect

15544-488: The northern part of the forest where there are moister conditions. Quaking aspen , a broadleaf deciduous tree, grows both in stands among conifers and in monotypic stands throughout the forest at elevations above 5,000 feet (1,500 m). Non-forested areas occupy 23 percent of the forest, primarily on south-facing slopes, lower elevations in the forest's southern latitudes, or high-elevation areas and are dominated by grasses , forbs , or shrubs . Sacajawea's bitterroot

15678-823: The number of camps was reduced from 1934 until the program was closed in 1942. Work conducted by the CCC included fire suppression, fish habitat improvement, and construction of guard houses, fire lookouts, campgrounds, roads, and trails, among other facilities. Boise National Forest is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, an agency within the Department of Agriculture, as five units called ranger districts. The ranger districts are Cascade (400,000 acres or 1,600 square kilometers), Emmett (350,000 acres or 1,400 square kilometers), Idaho City (400,000 acres), Lowman (400,000 acres), and Mountain Home (650,000 acres or 2,600 square kilometers); each has an office in their respective cities and

15812-444: The occurrence of frequent non-lethal fires, ponderosa pine dominates these forests alongside Douglas fir. The understory consists of bluebunch wheatgrass , Idaho fescue , mountain snowberry , and bitterbrush in drier areas and elk sedge , pinegrass , white spirea , mallow ninebark , and common snowberry at higher elevations. In cool, moist areas ranging from 4,800 feet (1,500 m) to 6,800 feet (2,100 m), Douglas fir

15946-537: The oceanic zone ( Do ). An Alpine climate dominates in the high mountains. Semi-arid and arid climates are found east of the higher mountains, especially in rainshadow areas. The Harney Basin of Oregon is an example of arid climate in the Pacific Northwest. Humid continental climates occur inland on windward sides, in places such as Revelstoke, British Columbia . A subarctic climate can be found farther north, especially in Yukon and Alaska. The lack of rain in

16080-431: The presence of extensive mountains and forests, and plateaus containing both extensive farm and range lands, much of which is protected from development in large parks and preserves, or by zoning use regulation related to traditional land use. For example, all cities within the portion of California which are sometimes included some definitions of the "Pacific Northwest" have populations less than 100,000, with that portion of

16214-543: The public from risks such as falling trees and landslides. Proactive fire management strategies include prescribed burns and mechanical reduction of fuel levels. For instance, in 2014 Boise National Forest planned to conduct 7,919 acres (32.05 km) of prescribed burns and 155 acres (0.63 km) of mechanical treatment. The forest seasonally maintains staff at seven fire lookout towers , while six others remain unstaffed. There are over 70 campgrounds in Boise National Forest and groups of more developed recreation facilities at

16348-490: The region. According to Canadian historian Ken Coates , the border has not merely influenced the Pacific Northwest—rather, "the region's history and character have been determined by the boundary". Definitions of the "Pacific Northwest" region vary, and even Pacific Northwesterners do not agree on the exact boundary. The most common conception includes the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and sometimes

16482-491: The report that the sediments in the Port Eliza Cave on Vancouver Island indicate the possibility of survivable climate as far back as 16 kya (16,000 years ago) in the area, while the continental ice sheets were nearing their maximum extent. Other evidence for human occupation dating back as much as 14.5 kya (14,500 years ago) is emerging from Paisley Caves in south-central Oregon. However, despite such research,

16616-506: The resident (non-migratory) form of sockeye salmon. However, due to introductions by humans, Anderson Ranch, Arrowrock, Lucky Peak, and Deadwood reservoirs now support populations of Kokanee salmon. To provide additional recreational fishing opportunities, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game stocks several of the forest's waterways with rainbow trout, while reservoirs are also stocked with Kokanee or chinook salmon and Lake Cascade

16750-536: The schooners Sutil and Mexicana . They met Vancouver in the Strait of Georgia on June 21, 1792. Vancouver had explored Puget Sound just previously. The Spanish explorers knew of Admiralty Inlet and the unexplored region to the south, but they decided to sail north. They discovered and entered the Fraser River shortly before meeting Vancouver. After sharing maps and agreeing to cooperate, Galiano, Valdés, and Vancouver sailed north to Desolation Sound and

16884-516: The state containing millions of acres of national forests and parks. In British Columbia, Europeans form 64% of the population with Asians comprising a further 29% of the provincial population. Both the Asian and European populations of the province are diverse; of the Asian population, 15% of the population is of East Asian descent, 8% of the population is of South Asian descent, with smaller numbers of Southeast Asians (4%) and West Asians (2%);

17018-638: The subsequent period, or otherwise assimilating in the mainstream. Initial formal claims to the region were asserted by Spain in 1513 with explorer Nuñez de Balboa , the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. Russian maritime fur trade activity, through the Russian-American Company , extended from the farther side of the Pacific to Russian America . This prompted Spain to send expeditions north to assert Spanish ownership, while Captain James Cook and subsequent expeditions by George Vancouver advanced British claims. As of

17152-553: The visitor's perspective) the forest's boundaries are its administered area. Elevations in the forest range from 2,800 feet (850 m) in the North Fork Payette River Canyon to 9,730 feet (2,970 m) at the top of Steel Mountain , a gain of 6,930 feet (2,110 m). The forest contains several subranges of the Rocky Mountains , including the Boise , Salmon River , and West mountain ranges. Much of

17286-689: The way to Boundary Bay and reached the Fraser River via the Nicomekl and the Salmon linked via a portage. The lower Fraser was revisited 16 years after explorer Simon Fraser (NWC) had first reached its mouth, although originating from northern present-day British Columbia . Puget Sound soon after would get reached via the Cowlitz and the Cowlitz Landing portage, but originating from new HBC headquarter Fort Vancouver located closer by, north of

17420-628: Was created on July 1, 1908, from part of Sawtooth National Forest , and originally covered 1,147,360 acres (4,643.2 km). By the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 , the U.S. Congress granted the U.S. President the authority to establish forest reserves out of Public Domain Lands that were subject to disposal (homesteads, sales, etc.) administered by the United States General Land Office , which had been placed under

17554-514: Was named after these settlements. In 1774, the viceroy of New Spain sent Spanish navigator Juan Pérez in the ship Santiago to the Pacific Northwest. Peréz made landfall on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) on July 18, 1774. The northernmost latitude he reached was 54°40′ N . This was followed, in 1775, by another Spanish expedition, under the command of Bruno de Heceta and including Juan Peréz and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra as officers. On July 14, 1775, they landed on

17688-512: Was named for him, but whether he discovered it or not has long been questioned. During the early 1740s, Imperial Russia sent the Danish-born Russian Vitus Bering to the region. By the late 18th century and into the mid-19th century, Russian settlers had established several posts and communities on the northeast Pacific coast, eventually reaching as far south as Fort Ross, California . The Russian River

17822-405: Was split from Sawtooth National Forest into an independent national forest. Emile Grandjean was the forest's first supervisor, serving from 1908 to 1922. On April 1, 1944, the entirety of what was then Payette National Forest was transferred to Boise National Forest, and simultaneously Weiser and Idaho national forests were combined to reestablish the present-day Payette National Forest , which

17956-484: Was the result of concerted action by Los Angeles -area businessmen and property owners who were concerned by the harm being done to the watershed of the San Gabriel Mountains by ranchers and miners. Abbot Kinney and forester Theodore Lukens were key spokesmen for the effort. There have been multiple legislative acts to expand the scope of the national forest system, as well as shrinking it. In 2020,

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