Sawtooth National Forest - Management

Management

Sawtooth National Forest is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, an agency within the Department of Agriculture, as four units: the Fairfield (420,720 acres or 170,260 hectares), Ketchum (321,544 acres or 130,124 hectares), and Minidoka (604,108 acres or 244,474 hectares) Ranger Districts and Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA). The Minidoka Ranger District is separated into the Albion (95,000 acres or 38,000 hectares), Black Pine (90,000 acres or 36,000 hectares), Cassia (234,000 acres or 95,000 hectares), Raft River (95,000 acres or 38,000 hectares), and Sublett (90,000 acres or 36,000 hectares) divisions.

There are several guard stations and work camps throughout the forest. The SNRA headquarters and main visitor center are located north of the city of Ketchum, while there is a ranger station in Stanley and visitor center at Redfish Lake. There are more than 25,000 acres (10,000 ha) of private land inholdings within the forest, and it is bordered by the Boise and Salmon-Challis National Forests as well as private, state, and Bureau of Land Management land. Curlew National Grassland is 1.5 mi (2.4 km) from the Sublett Division's eastern boundary. Small portions of the area originally designated as Sawtooth National Forest are managed by the Boise and Challis National Forests, while the Sawtooth manages portions of the Boise and Challis National Forests.

Sawtooth National Forest balances interests of different groups, such as those interested in recreation, preservation, or resource extraction. The forest practices conservation of resources, in some areas allowing for production of raw materials, such as lumber for construction purposes and wood pulp for paper products, alongside recreational uses, while in other areas only recreation is permitted. Additionally, mineral extraction through mining and oil and natural gas exploration and recovery are also conducted, though in Sawtooth National Forest this has become less common due to a consensus to protect the natural surroundings. Leases offered to ranchers to allow them to graze cattle and sheep on the forest are common. The forest provides guidelines and enforces environmental regulations to ensure that resources are not overexploited and that necessary commodities are available for future generations.