FAQs

While there are some developed recreation sites where fees are charged, there is no fee to enter the Sawtooth National Forest, which includes the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The Forest Service and National Park Service both manage public lands but have different missions. Learn more about the differences between National Forest and National Parks on the National Forest Foundation website.  

If an area of the Sawtooth National Forest is closed for any reason, legal orders, and maps for those areas are posted to our Alerts page as soon as possible after the order is signed by the legal authority. 

Our Current Conditions page contains district and area updates, including a note about when the last update was provided by district and area employees. Links to summer and winter trail conditions are also provided as seasonal interest dictates. 

For information 

We use seasonal closures to minimize disturbance to big game species on winter range during the critical winter and spring months when their fat reserves are low, they are recovering from the stresses of winter, and they are getting ready to fawn and calve. The road closures also serve to minimize road damage to wet saturated roads during the winter and spring months.  Forest road maintenance crews implement annual road maintenance and repair on a schedule across the entire Forest. In the past, road damage from motorized use on wet and saturated roads has resulted in significant damage that takes extensive time and funding to repair and impacts our crews’ ability to keep up with maintenance of the road and trail system across the entire Forest.

Permits are NOT required for parking at trailheads. Some day use areas do have a fee for parking. If there is a fee it will be clearly signed, and you must pay in cash or check. 

Stay limit rules on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area only allow visitors to stay in the same spot or any spot within a 30 mile radius for 10 days in every 30-day period. 

Anyone entering the Sawtooth Wilderness, whether backpackers or day hikers, needs a Wilderness permit. Other wilderness areas on the Sawtooth National Forest do not require a permit, but please review wilderness rules on our Wilderness page. 

Special events, like weddings, can be hosted on the forest under certain conditions. Cost depends on whether or not a permit is required for your event. Please refer to our Special and Commercial Uses page for more information. 

Camping is available on all districts and areas of the Sawtooth National Forest. Please check our Camping and Cabins page for more information about sites available on our Forest. 

Reservations, if available for a site, are available at Recreation.gov. Sites open for reservations six months in advance for single and double sites and one year in advance for group sites. Some of our campgrounds have sites that are only available on a first-come, first-served basis. Fees charged at these campsites must be paid for by cash or check. 

The Sawtooth National Forest offers something for all types of campers:

• Developed campgrounds are those where visitors will find facilities and amenities, usually for a fee. Availability of amenities vary by location. Many of these campgrounds can be reserved through Recreation.gov. Some of these campgrounds are run by concessionaires who are contracted to manage the sites. Others may have campground hosts to assist visitors as necessary during their stays.
• Dispersed camping, also called dry camping or boondocking, is setting up camp free of charge in undeveloped portions of the Forest. A few areas on the  Elsewhere on the forest, dispersed camping with motorized vehicles is allowed within 300’ of most forest roads and within 100’ of most motorized trails. Stay limits do apply. Check out our Alerts page and Motor Vehicle Use Maps for more details.
• Designated dispersed camping, where dispersed camping is only allowed in designated sites, is also offered in some locations on the Sawtooth National Forest. These sites, designated by a site post with a camp symbol on it, may also have developed features, like fire rings and tables, to protect natural resources.
• Backcountry camping is also available for those who like to explore more primitive areas, such as the three wilderness areas on the Sawtooth National Forest. 

Camping rules and regulations apply to make your experience safe and to keep the natural resources scenic and unspoiled for other users. It is your responsibility to know these before you camp. 

• Use existing campsites. Try to find a place someone else has already camped and where there's an existing fire ring.
• Pack it in, pack it out. This includes trash and pet waste.
• Plan ahead and prepare. Bring things that make it easier to live at camp and allow you to take care of the campsite.
• Got to go? Burry all poop in a hole 6- to 8-inches deep and pack out your toilet paper or use a portable/disposable toilet.
• Pay attention to and follow fire restrictions. 

There have been multiple incidents involving bears feeding on human food, trash, and other attractants, such as cooking waste and toiletries, when visitors were absent from camp or sleeping.  Incidents involving visitors feeding bears intentionally have also been documented.  Once rewarded, bears can become more emboldened, escalating the potential for adverse encounters with visitors. Bears that become food-conditioned through human carelessness become dangerous to people and are often euthanized in defense of human safety and property.  A food storage order allows the Sawtooth National Recreation Area to more effectively manage food, garbage, and attractants in bear country to reduce human/bear encounters.  The Forest Service works in close coordination with Idaho Department of Fish and Game on bear management issues, and they support a food storage order. Food storage practices are necessary to protect both humans and bears.

Food and refuse means any substance — liquid, solid, or refuse — that is or may be eaten or otherwise taken into the body to sustain health or life, provide energy, or promote growth of any person or animal. Examples include: 

• soft drinks,
• alcoholic beverages,
• canned foods,
• pet foods,
• processed livestock feed and grains,
• personal hygiene products,
• empty food and beverage containers,
• animal carcasses, or
• any parts of a dead animal.

The only liquids and solids excluded in the order are water, baled hay, or hay cubes without additives.

The Order will affect anyone visiting the Sawtooth National Recreation Area outside of designated wilderness areas anytime between the Saturday before Memorial Day through Labor Day.  Visitors are required to store your food and attractants in a manner that is bear resistant whenever those items are unattended.  Bear resistent storage means storing those items:

•  in a closed, hard-sided vehicle constructed of solid, non-pliable material;
• in a certified bear-resistant container;
• in a hard-sided residence or building; or
• suspended at least 10 feet clear of the ground at all points and 4 feet horizontally from supporting tree or pole.  

These storage methods must be used during the night and when no one is attending the food or attractants.

While grills are not specifically mentioned in the order, we do recommend that grills be stored in a bear-resistant manner.

Many on-line and local outdoor stores carry certified bear-resistant storage products.  Check the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee website (http://igbconline.org/certified-products-list/) for an updated list of certified bear-resistant storage products. 

It depends.  If your cooler is a type certified by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee as bear-resistant and is properly closed you can store food and attractants in it (http://igbconline.org/certified-products-list/).  If your cooler is stored in a hard-sided vehicle or bear-resistant structure you can store food in it.

Relocation really doesn’t work in most cases. Research suggests that adult bears almost always return to their former ranges and generally do so within a month, regardless of the distance they are moved.  Translocated bears can also experience considerable stress associated with locating new food sources, security, bedding and denning sites within the release area, potentially affecting their survival. Placing a bear in habitat used by other bears may lead to competition and social conflict and result in the injury or death of the less dominant bear.  Lastly moving a bear that is habituated to human food to a new location just moves the problem.

You should not feed birds or any wildlife while visiting the Sawtooth National Forest.