I visited the Sawtooth Mountain range in 1997, and I was awe-struck all week. This is one of the world's most beautiful wild places. High, rugged mountains rise out of green valleys with clear, blue lakes. But this area's character is in jeopardy.
Adjoining the Sawtooth Wilderness is the 756,000-acre Sawtooth National Recreation Area. This land was established by Congress as an NRA in 1972, to protect and preserve the area's natural, scenic, hitorical, pastoral, fish and wildlife values, as well as to enhance the area's recreational values.
Photos: [Top] Imogene Lake, a remote mountain lake; [Bottom] Alpine Lake, an easy day hike from just outside historic Stanley.
The SNRA still contains 2,500 acres of private land. This land was to have been appropriated by the federal government, but now stands vulnerable to development. On this vast, natural landscape, the possibility of commercial development seems impossible, but it can happen, and it would scar the area permanently.
The Sawtooth Society was formed to raise private funds, in lieu of restricted federal budgets, to protect the remaining property within the protected area. The Society is a group of citizens whose mission is to safeguard the SNRA. They feel any development on the private inholdings would be environmentally destructive, unsightly and historically debasing to the area's rich character.
If you love the Sawtooths, and you want to preserve and protect it, then contact:
The Sawtooth Society
The Sawtooth Society
PO Box 268
Boise, ID 83701
208-387-0852 voice
208-387-0982 fax
sawsocty@cyberhighway.net