The Saint Joe River (sometimes abbreviated St. Joe River) is a long

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of Coeur d'Alene Lake in northern

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. Beginning at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of in the Northern Bitterroot Range of eastern Shoshone County, it flows generally west through the Saint Joe River Valley and the communities of Avery and Calder. Past Calder, it flows into Benewah County and through the town of St. Maries, where it receives its largest tributary, the

Saint Maries River Saint Maries River is a river located in the U.S. state of Idaho. It is a tributary of Coeur d'Alene Lake and thus part of the Spokane River drainage basin and the Columbia River Basin. The west and middle forks of the river join near Clarkia, I ...

. It then turns northwest, passing through

Heyburn State Park Heyburn State Park is a public recreation area in the U.S. state of Idaho. It is located almost entirely in Benewah County, with a small portion extending into southern Kootenai County. The park was founded in 1908 and is the oldest state or pro ...

before reaching its mouth just north of the

Kootenai County Kootenai County ( ) is located in the U.S. state of Idaho. In 2020, the United States Census Bureau estimated the county's population at 171,362, making it the third-most populous county in Idaho and by far the largest in North Idaho, the coun ...

line. Much of the river's route through Heyburn State Park is partially flooded due to raised water levels from the Washington Water Power dam at

Post Falls Post Falls is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, between Coeur d'Alene and Spokane, Washington. It is a suburb of Coeur d'Alene, to the east, and a bedroom community to Spokane, to the west. The population was 38,485 at the time of the 2020 cens ...

on the

Spokane River The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the Spokane Valley and the city of ...

below Coeur d'Alene Lake. With a mouth elevation of , it is claimed to be the highest

navigable river A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a ''waterway'', and is preferably with few obstructions against di ...

in the world. Multiple rivers in Canada are both higher and navigable, including the

Babine {{Infobox ethnic group , group=Nadot'en , image= , image_caption= , poptime= , popplace={{Flag, Canada ({{Flag, British Columbia) , langs=English, Babine-Witsuwit'en , rels=Christianity, Animism , related= Wet'suwet'en, Dakelh In its broader sen ...

, and Middle Rivers. In 1978, of the river were protected by the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, with designated as

wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...

and another designated as recreational. The Saint Joe River drains of the Idaho Panhandle. It is part of the Spokane River watershed, which in turn is part of the

Columbia River basin The Columbia River drainage basin is the drainage basin of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It covers . In common usage, the term often refers to a smaller area, generally the portion of the drainage basin th ...

. About 68 percent is owned by the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

(the St. Joe National Forest), 4 percent is owned by the Bureau of Land Management, 2 percent is owned by the State of Idaho, and the rest is privately owned. The Saint Joe River watershed is covered primarily by

mixed coniferous forest Mixed coniferous forest is a vegetation type dominated by a mixture of broadleaf trees and conifers.Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p 13–14 It is generally located in mountains, below the upper montane vegetation type. Sie ...

, which includes species such as Douglas fir, true fir,

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains fur ...

, and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

Alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

is common in the

riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

s of high altitude river valleys, while cottonwood dominates the lower altitude riparian zones, much of which have been converted to

agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with ...

. Rush,

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

, and

cattails ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in ...

are common in the river's

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

s, which are also used to grow

wild rice Wild rice, also called manoomin, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both ...

. The river is home to many species of fish, including native

westslope cutthroat trout The westslope cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi''), also known as the black-spotted trout, common cutthroat trout and red-throated trout is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'') and is a freshwater fish in t ...

mountain whitefish The mountain whitefish (''Prosopium williamsoni'') is one of the most widely distributed salmonid fish of western North America. It is found from the Mackenzie River drainage in Northwest Territories, Canada south through western Canada and ...

, cedar sculpin and other cottids, shiners, and nonnative

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

and brook trout, chinook and

Kokanee Salmon The kokanee salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also known as the kokanee trout, little redfish, silver trout, kikanning, Kennerly's salmon, Kennerly's trout, or Walla, is the non-anadromous form of the sockeye salmon (meaning that they do not migrat ...

. The upper Saint Joe River is also home to the last self-sustaining population of vulnerable

bull trout The bull trout (''Salvelinus confluentus'') is a char of the family Salmonidae native to northwestern North America. Historically, ''S. confluentus'' has been known as the " Dolly Varden" (''S. malma''), but was reclassified as a separate speci ...

in the Coeur d'Alene Lake watershed.

References

External links

St. Joe River Country
Documentary produced by ''

Idaho Public Television Idaho Public Television (also known as IdahoPTV and Idaho Public TV) is a Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member network serving the U.S. state of Idaho. Consisting of five television stations, it is operated and funded by the Idaho State Bo ...

'' {{authority control Rivers of Idaho Rivers of Benewah County, Idaho Rivers of Shoshone County, Idaho Idaho Panhandle National Forest Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States

See also

References

External links