page_title: Sawtooth Wilderness
section_title: Waterways
hierarchical_section_title: Sawtooth Wilderness / Geography and geology / Waterways
caption_attribution_description: English: Sawtooth Lake and Mount Regan in the Sawtooth mountain Range of Idaho, United States.
context_page_description: The Sawtooth Wilderness is a federally-protected wilderness area that covers 217,088 acres of the state of Idaho. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it was designated the Sawtooth Primitive Area in 1937 to preserve the exceptional scenic beauty of the Sawtooth Mountains. On August 22, 1972 Public Law 92-400 designated the Primitive Area as the Sawtooth Wilderness and part of the newly created Sawtooth National Recreation Area. As part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, the Sawtooth Wilderness is an area where human development and use are restricted and people are to remain only visitors. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Sawtooth Wilderness has some of the clearest air in the lower 48 states.
context_section_description: The entire wilderness is in the watershed of the Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean. The eastern side of the wilderness is drained by Salmon River, which flows into the Snake River 425 miles (684 km) downstream. The western side of the wilderness is in the watershed of the South Fork of the Payette River, while part of the southern end of the wilderness is drained by the Boise River. Several hundred lakes exist in the Sawtooth Wilderness, and nearly all are the result of glaciation. The largest lake in the wilderness is Sawtooth Lake, and other large lakes include Alice, Toxaway, Ardeth, Edna, Hell Roaring, Goat, and Baron lakes. Lakes in the wilderness can remain frozen until mid-summer, and many of the smaller lakes are unnamed.
caption: Sawtooth Lake and Mount Regan in June 2008
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