Mallard Larkins Roadless Area

Clearwater and Idaho Panhandle National Forests, Idaho

Sixty miles northeast of Orofino, Idaho, in the State's moist panhandle, the 260,000 acre Mallard/Larkins Roadless Area is one of the largest unprotected roadless areas anywhere in the contiguous 48 states. The area is biologically diverse, including low elevation disjunct coastal rainforest communities. In the high country, extensive lodgepole pine and mountain hemlock forests mingle with subalpine meadows, high mountain lakes, and craggy peaks. Impressive pockets of old growth western red cedar, western hemlock, and western white pine, some quite massive, remain in the lower elevations.

The rare inland coastal rainforest habitat is well developed in Isabella Creek. Here, large old growth red alder, pacific yew and many different ferns thrive among the arboreal giants. Thirty-eight mountain lakes are large enough to be named, with Heart Lake being the largest at thirty-five acres.

The area is a sanctuary for abundant wildlife including pileated woodpecker, northern goshawk, bear, moose, elk, mule and whitetail deer, pine marten, gray wolf, lynx, wolverine, and a productive mountain goat population. The healthy deer and elk populations feed a growing population of wolves. There may be as many as five wolf packs in the North Fork Clearwater country. High mountain lakes with cutthroat trout lure many people in the summer. On the south side, Isabella Creek is habitat for bull trout, westslope cutthroat and kokanee salmon. Deep in the heart of the roadless area, the Heritage Grove has 500 year-old cedars over 150 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter.

Mallard/Larkins has a long history of support for wilderness protection. A small portion of the high country was designated as a Pioneer Area (about 30,000 acres). Unfortunately, road building and logging have diminished this roadless area. In addition, motorized vehicles have degraded parts of the area including the Elizabeth Lakes region. Still, most of the area is extremely wild with many unique and interesting features.

The removal of a few dirt logging roads would combine the Great Burn, Bighorn-Weitas, Mallard/Larkins, Pot Mountain, and Meadow Creek areas into a single 900,000 acre roadless area. The Mallard/Larkins provides some of the best deer and elk hunting in the region. Though the area is busy during hunting season, through most of the year the area offers excellent opportunities for solitude. Backpacking from the low elevations to the subalpine areas is truly wondrous. Fishing is popular in the high mountain lakes and in the St. Joe, North Fork and the Little North Fork of the Clearwater River. The St. Joe River is a National Wild and Scenic River. Camping opportunities abound throughout. Swimming, bird watching, mountain climbing, backcountry skiing, and photography are some of the other activities available in the area.

While the Mallard /Larkins roadless area receives strong public support for Wilderness protection and has been proposed for protection in The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA), it is currently protected only by the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Source: Friends of the Clearwater and Heritage Forests Campaign

For more information:
Friends of the Clearwater
PO Box 9241
Moscow, ID 83843
208.882.9755
www.wildrockies.org/foc
foc@wildrockies.org