Protected Areas
In 1984, the United States Congress designated 120 miles (193 km) of the river as Owyhee Wild and Scenic River under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 to preserve the river in its free-flowing condition. Part of the designation includes the section of the river downstream from the Owyhee Dam, where the river flows through a remote section of deeply incised canyons surrounded by high canyon rims that are habitat for mountain lion, bobcat, Mule Deer, California Bighorn Sheep, and a large variety of raptors.
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 designated 323,274 acres (130,824 ha) on and around the Owyhee River in Idaho as wilderness. The bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 30, 2009. The new wilderness areas are:
- North Fork Owyhee Wilderness - 43,413 acres (17,569 ha)
- Owyhee River Wilderness - 267,328 acres (108,184 ha)
- Pole Creek Wilderness - 12,533 acres (5,072 ha)
Read more about this topic: Owyhee River
Famous quotes containing the words protected and/or areas:
“The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for, not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men to whom God in His infinite wisdom has given control of the property interests of the country.”
—George Baer (1842–1914)
“If a walker is indeed an individualist there is nowhere he can’t go at dawn and not many places he can’t go at noon. But just as it demeans life to live alongside a great river you can no longer swim in or drink from, to be crowded into safer areas and hours takes much of the gloss off walking—one sport you shouldn’t have to reserve a time and a court for.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)