Selway River

River in Idaho, United States

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.^[5] 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.^[6]

The main stem of the Selway is 100 miles (160 km) in length^[3] from the headwaters in the Bitterroots to the confluence with the Lochsa near Lowell to form the Middle Fork of the Clearwater. The Selway River drains a 2,013-square-mile (5,210 km²) basin in Idaho County.^[4]

History

The Selway River is home to Chinook salmon. Four salmon channels were built "in the mid-1960s by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and by the Job Corps ... along the Selway to help re-establish the spring chinook run after hydroelectric dams were built downstream." The river was stocked with salmon eggs and fry "each fall through 1981, and again in 1985."^[7] A 1993 book about the project, Indian Creek Chronicles, won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award.^[8][9]

Flora

• Cedar - Western red cedar
• ferns
• Firs – Douglas and grand fir
• Huckleberries
• Pine - ponderosa pine
• Spruce - Engelmann spruce

Wildlife

White-tail deer in the Selway River

• Birds
  • Bald eagle
  • Grouse
  • Heron
  • Osprey
  • Owls
  • Wild turkey
• Fish
  • Trout
    • bullhead
    • bull
    • rainbow or steelhead
    • westslope cutthroat
  • Salmon
    • Chinook
    • coho
  • Mountain whitefish
• Mammals
  • Bighorn sheep
  • American black bear
  • Cougar
  • Elk
  • Fisher
  • Gray wolf
  • Lynx
  • Moose
  • Mountain goat
  • Mule deer
  • Northern river otter
  • Skunk
  • Weasel
  • White-tailed deer
  • Wolverine

Recreation

• Backcountry skiing
• Camping
• Fly fishing – Limits and catch-and-release
• Hiking
• Whitewater rafting – permits required
• Hunting

See also

• List of rivers of Idaho
• List of longest streams of Idaho
• List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers

References

1. "Selway River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. June 21, 1979. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
2. Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using GNIS source coordinates.
3. U.S. Geological Survey. "The National Map: National Hydrography Dataset High-Resolution Flowline Data". Retrieved May 3, 2011.
4. Bugosh, Nicholas (2000). "Lower Selway River Subbasin Assessment" (PDF). Lewiston, Idaho: Lewiston Regional Office, Idaho Division of Environmental Quality. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 18, 2015. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
5. Idaho Atlas & Gazetteer (6th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2007. pp. 52–53, 55–56. ISBN 978-0-89933-284-0.
6. "Clearwater River (Middle Fork), Idaho". National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
7. Briggeman, Kim (2011-06-12). "Students immersed in Magruder Corridor". Missoulian. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
8. Fromm, Pete (2003). Indian Creek chronicles. New York: Picador. ISBN 0312422725.
9. "Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness by Pete Fromm". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2013-12-01.

Bibliography

• Floating the Wild Selway. (1991) [Missoula, Mont.?] : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Region.
• Selway River Corridor: A Guide to Recreation on the Moose Creek Ranger District. (2000) Kooskia, Idaho : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Nez Perce National Forest, Moose Creek Ranger Station.
• Selway River fisheries investigations : job completion report. (1979) [Idaho] : Idaho Dept. of Fish & Game.
• A survey and evaluation of archaeological resources in the Magruder Corridor, Bitterroot National Forest, east-central Idaho, 1969. (1969) Pocatello, Idaho : Idaho State University Museum.

External links

• Friends of the Clearwater
• NPR Radio expeditions
• Visit Idaho - Selway River site