Four Rivers Lottery and Permit Reservation System
Selway, Hells Canyon-Snake, Salmon, Middle Fork of the Salmon (4 Rivers)
The 4 Rivers use randomized lottery drawings to assign launch reservations for their control (primary) seasons.
Acceptance of Four Rivers Lottery applications begins annually on December 1 and closes on January 31 at 11:59 PM MT. Applications must be submitted through your account at www.Recreation.gov. Lottery applications, reservations, cancellations and recreation fee payments for permits to float these Four Rivers are processed at www.Recreation.gov. For Customer Service, the phone number is 1-877-444-6777.
- Each river has its own independent lottery.
- An individual can submit one application for each river's lottery; the limit is one per river.
- Submitting more than one application to a river's lottery will disqualify the applicant if successful.
- Having a pre/post season reservation on the Salmon or Middle Fork does not restrict your ability to apply to the lottery.
The 4 Rivers Lottery Control (Primary) seasons:
- Selway River: May 15 - July 31
- Hells Canyon-Snake River: Friday before Memorial Day - Sept. 10
- Wild Salmon River: June 20 - Sept. 7
- Middle Fork of the Salmon River: May 28 - Sept. 3
Individuals can only have one reservation at a time during the lottery season for each river. For the Selway, the Salmon, and the Middle Fork of the Salmon, there is a limit of one permit per lottery control season per person.
Your www.recreation.gov account is where boaters will update their reservation details, or cancel their reservation if necessary. This site is where all payments are processed for recreation fees on the Middle Fork and the Wild Salmon Rivers. Complete and final payment of recreation fees should be entered into your reservation at least three (3) days prior to your launch date.
Boaters should try to anticipate high and low water levels before submitting an application or reserving a launch date.
Pre/Post Season Reservations: Each river has different reservation/permitting requirements for pre/post season trips. For details, click on the river name at the bottom of this page. For a summary about each river, see Whitewater Rafting on the Four Rivers page.
Reservations for pre- and post-season launch dates on the Middle Fork Salmon and Wild Salmon rivers are released annually at 8 AM Mountain time on October 1. The Wild Salmon River has unlimited launches for pre/post season dates, but the calendar will display 99 so boaters can see how many reservations have already been made. The Middle Fork of the Salmon River limits the number of launches per day to seven (7) throughout the year.
To reserve pre or post season launch dates, go to www.recreation.gov and search for the Middle Fork of the Salmon River or the Salmon River (4 Rivers). Reserving a pre or post season launch date does not exclude the person from applying to the lottery.
2020 Four Rivers Lottery:
Interested in what happened in previous lotteries? Click the link below.
Lottery Results can be found in your profile starting February 14.
Emails will be sent to all applicants. If you do not receive an email for each lottery that you applied to, check your spam folder, or log into your profile at www.Recreation.gov to see the results of your lottery application.
If you have difficulty getting logged into your profile, contact the help desk at 1-877-444-6777.
Successful applicants must accept their awarded launch date before 11:59 PM MT on March 15.
- To accept and confirm your awarded launch date, log into your profile and complete the Order Details page. Enter at least one person, the exit date, and any required information (look for red stars) before continuing to the cart to finalize the confirmation process.
- You can make changes later to the number of people, boats, trip length, launch point and other trip details prior to receiving your permit. The Salmon and the Middle Fork require payment of recreation fees to confirm your launch reservation. The Selway and Hells Canyon-Snake Rivers do not charge additional fees for passengers or days of use, but you must still progress through the cart to finalize your acceptance.
- Once you have completed the confirmation process, look for a confirmation email. The confirmation email will contain links to your river's information pages, as paper materials are no longer available. The permit holder is responsible for the actions of their group; please visit the the respective river's information webpage for details about equipment requirements, regulations and trip information.
- Unconfirmed awards will be automatically cancelled at midnight MT March 15.
Starting March 16 at 8 AM Mountain time, any unconfirmed lottery dates can be reserved at www.recreation.gov.
All four rivers are part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. To learn more about Wild & Scenic Rivers, visit www.rivers.gov/wsr50/ .
River Contact Information:
Email the Four Rivers Lottery group. We welcome your comments and questions.
Weighted Lotteries for the Four Rivers
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