Boise National Forest

About Us

A Quick Overview

The Boise National Forest is located north and east of the city of Boise, Idaho.

Size: about 2,612,000 acres

Topography: Elevations range from 2,600 to 9,800 feet. The mountainous landscape developed through uplifting, faulting, and stream cutting. Most of the land lies within the Idaho Batholith, a large and highly erodable geologic formation.

Major rivers: Boise and Payette Rivers; South and Middle Fork drainages of the Salmon River.

Conifer forest covers most of the Boise National Forest. Tree species include ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine, grand fir, subalpine fir, western larch and whitebark pine. Shrubs and grasses grow in the non-forested areas. Wildflowers splash color in both forests and shrub-land.

The Forest contains large expanses of summer range for big game species like mule deer and Rocky Mountain elk. Trout are native to most streams and lakes. Oceangoing salmon and steelhead inhabit tributaries of the Salmon River.

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW The Boise National Forest has 6 offices: the Forest Supervisor's Office in Boise, and ranger district offices in Mountain Home, Idaho City, Cascade, Lowman and Emmett, Idaho. Additionally, there are guard stations located in Garden Valley and High Valley.

HISTORY The Boise National Forest was created in 1908 from portions of the Payette National and Sawtooth Forest Reserves. Emil Grandjean was the first Forest Supervisor.

US Forest Service - Boise National Forest
Last Modified: Saturday, 31 May 2008 at 10:29:01 EDT