Snake River

(As reported by PBS and GORP.com)

Overview
The Snake River, designated in 1975 as a National Wild and Scenic River, provides an unforgettable outdoor experience. Snake River falls from an elevation 9,840 feet above sea level to 340 feet where it meets the Columbia River in Washington. It does not fall gently, as the place names along the river suggest: Idaho Falls, American Falls, Shoshone Falls, Twin Falls, Swan Falls. After all that, the river still has to pass through Hells Canyon, another apt name. No wonder the early French trappers called the Snake a "mad" river. The river flows through the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (NRA), and forms the boundary between Idaho and Oregon. It includes the Hells Canyon Wilderness and the Snake River segment of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

A Working River
The river is the "lifeblood" of southern Idaho because of the complicated work that it does. Its water is diverted and sent to irrigate tracts of fertile desert land in highly organized systems of storage reservoirs, distribution canals, and pumping stations. Idaho laws regarding water use and water rights are elaborate and refined. The basic legal principle is "first in time, first in right." Settlers who had to share a ditch learned that cooperation was the way to mutual prosperity--and also how to resolve disputes in reasonable ways.

A Variety of Benefits
Despite all of its work, the river manages to be other things at different places--a vacation paradise for anglers; a habitat for fish from trout to catfish to sturgeon; a canyon home for the largest gathering of nesting owls, hawks, eagles, and falcons on the continent; and a federally-designated "wild and scenic" river.