Sawtooth National Forest is a federally protected area that covers 2,102,461 acres (850,836 ha) in the U.S. states of Idaho (~96 percent) and Utah (~4 percent). A portion of it has been designated as the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, which includes the Sawtooth Wilderness. It is named for the Sawtooth Mountains, one of several mountain ranges in the area, and contains land cover types which include sagebrush steppe, spruce-fir forests, and alpine tundra. There are over 1,100 lakes and 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of rivers and streams. Plants and animals that are found only in the Sawtooth National Forest and adjacent lands include Christ's Indian paintbrush (pictured), Davis' springparsley, the South Hills Crossbill, and the Wood River sculpin. The area that is now Sawtooth National Forest was first occupied by people as early as 8000 BC and by the Shoshone people after 1700 AD. The first European descendants migrating from the eastern United States arrived in the area around the 1820s and founded many of the current towns around what later became the forest. Facilities are offered for various recreation activities including skiing, boating, hunting, camping, and walking. (Full article...)
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