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The Wild Clearwater

The public lands of the Clearwater basin make up one of the largest and most intact temperate ecosystems in North America. It is home to:

Wilderness

The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests contain the entire Gospel-Hump Wilderness, plus portions of the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wildernesses.
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Roadless Areas

The Clearwater is home to over 1.5 million acres of wildlands lacking congressional protection called roadless areas.
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Rare Wildlife

Seven threatened and endangered species: wolverine, lynx, grizzly bear, chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout, and whitebark pine.
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Wild and Scenic Rivers

Three nationally-designated Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Lochsa, the Selway and the Middefork-Cleawater Rivers. Several waterways are candidates for designation.
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National Historic Trails

The Lewis-Clark National Historic Trail and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail cross the region.
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Wilderness

A glacially-carved valley in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.
Wilderness is the highest level of protection afforded to public lands. Since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964 and creation of the National Wilderness Preservation System, whole landscapes have set aside to evolve free of intrusive human activities like resource extraction and motorized use.

Today less than 3% (about 56 million acres) of all the lower 48 states is designated wilderness. Including Alaska, approximately 5% of all lands in the United States are designated wilderness – roughly 111 million acres.

All or portions of three wilderness areas lie in our mission area—the Selway-Bitterroot, Gospel-Hump, and Frank Church-River of No Return. They offer solitude for visitors and opportunities to experience native wildlife in their wild settings.

Only Congress can designate a federal public wildlands as wilderness. Designated wilderness areas are generally protected from industrial development including road building, logging, new mining entry, new livestock allotments, as well as all forms of motorized and mechanized transportation.
Click to see an interactive wildlands map

Roadless Areas

The green expanse of the Bighorn-Weitas roadless area, one of the largest unprotected wild places in Idaho. FOC file photo.
Roadless areas are undeveloped public lands that have not been formally protected by congress.  Roadless areas are basically unprotected wildernesses.

National forests, national parks, national wildlife refuges and lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management all contain millions of acres of roadless wildlands that qualify for wilderness designation.

There are over 1.5 million acres of roadless wildlands in the Greater Clearwater that have no permanent protection. You can read more about individual roadless areas here, or explore an interactive map of these areas here.

These areas are currently governed by the Idaho Roadless Rule, a weak regulation that has allowed tens of thousands of acres of wild landscapes to be logged, roaded, and otherwise developed.
You can read more about the diverse roadless areas of the Clearwater here.

Federally Protected Wildlife

As of 2024, there are 7 species native to the Clearwater that are protected as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. There are several species that warrant listing that are not officially listed. 

Click on any of the images below to learn more.

Bull Trout

Chinook Salmon

Canada Lynx

Wolverine

Steelhead Trout

Grizzly Bear

Whitebark Pine

Wild and Scenic Rivers

  • The middle fork of the Clearwater River at night. FOC file photo.
  • Lochsa Recreational River. Rafters and kayakers across the world love the Lochsa for its whitewater. FOC File Photo
  • Rapid River Wild & Scenic River, managed by the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests in the Salmon drainage. Haverstick Photo
  • Selway Wild & Scenic River, centerpiece of the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness. FOC File photo
  • The North Fork Clearwater (above) is impounded by Dworshak Dam. The free-flowing section is a candidate for Wild and Scenic River designation. FOC file photo.
The 20th Century saw the industrial development of watersheds and rivers throughout the United States, with Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers damming, diverting, and channelizing rivers with little to no concern for ecological consequences or mitigation. 

Wild & Scenic Rivers Act

Passage of the 1968 Wild & Scenic Rivers Act marked a turning point, as rivers and their immediate environments could now be classified as Wild, Scenic, or Recreational, and protected accordingly under the law. The Lochsa, Selway, and Middle Fork Clearwater were all among the first rivers protected under this law.

Clean Water Act

In 1972, the Clean Water Act further mandated protection and restoration of the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters, including rivers, tributaries and headwaters, and wetlands.

Wild Clearwater country is largely defined by its watersheds, notably including the South Fork of the Clearwater, North Fork of the Clearwater, Lochsa, and Selway Rivers. The boundaries of the Greater Clearwater Region include portions of the Salmon and St. Joe Rivers, both of which have sections protected as Wild and Scenic Rivers.

Future Designations

According to the USFWS, 21 waterways in the Wild Clearwater have been reclassified as ineligible for Wild & Scenic protection under the 2025 Nez Perce-Clearwater forests plan. While this does not preclude protections by Congress, it does make it easier for the USFS to degrade these watersheds.

National Trails

  • A view from Fish Butte near the historic route of the Nez Perce Trail. Haverstick photo.
  • The flight of the Nez Perce in 1877, the basis of the Nez Perce Historic Trail. Public domain map from wikimedia.org.
  • A map of the Lolo Motorway, Nez Perce Trail, and Lewis & Clark Trail across Idaho. Map from experiencelewisandclark.travel. 

The Lolo Motorway - A Path of Many Names

Between Weippe, Idaho and Lolo Pass on the Montana border winds the Lolo Motorway. That road, one of the most remote and scenic in Idaho, is just one iteration of a pathway that has been used for at least several hundred years.

For hundreds of years, the Nimiipuu, Salish, and other Tribes follows a network of trails between the salmon-bearing Clearwater Basin and the bison-filled plains of Montana. These "trails to the buffalo" saw greater use after the Nez Perce acquired the horse in the 1700s.

This trail is part of history. In 1805, Native guides led Lewis and Clark over it. In 1877, the US military pursued the non-treaty Nez Perce over the trail during the Nez Perce War.

Because of its historic significance, the trail is part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail. 

In the 1930s, the CCC built the Lolo Motorway roughly along the same path as the trail of old. It's use decreased significantly since the building of Highway 12. It remains a beautiful, if remote, pathway through the Clearwater.

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"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness" - John Muir 
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