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. 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.
The main stem of the Selway is in length 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 basin in Idaho County.
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." A 1993 book about the project, Indian Creek Chronicles, won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award.
Flora Cedar - Western red cedar ferns Firs – Douglas and grand fir Huckleberries Pine - ponderosa pine Spruce - Engelmann spruce
Wildlife
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
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