STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Sawtooth Interpretive & Historical Association is selling a limited number of tickets to be entered in a drawing for a whitewater rafting trip for two on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.
The SIHA is selling two hundred $105 tickets for the raft trip, which will be offered by Hughes River Expeditions in 2023 or 2024. Tickets are available at https://discoversawtooth.org/2022-drawing, and the money raised will go to support the SIHA, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
The Sawtooth Interpretive & Historical Association was incorporated Dec. 20, 1972, to support the newly established Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The association documents the area’s history and offers educational programs concerning the region.
The association also preserved the Valley Creek Ranger Station, now the Stanley Museum.
Founding directors included Dr. Merle Wells of Boise, Susan Foster of Clayton, Mary Sprague of Hailey, and Ken and Edith Kinucan of Bellevue.
Today the SIHA manages 11 small bookstores inside ranger stations where it sells maps, field guides and education material relevant to the Sawtooth, Caribou-Targhee and Salmon-Challis National Forests, said Lin Gray. The association operates the Redfish Lake Visitor Center & Gallery and the Stanley Museum.
The two facilities, which are open daily from mid-June through Labor Day, get 16,000 visitors each summer.
A crew of eight college-age interns also staff trailheads to educate visitors about Leave-No-Trace practices and provide informative free educational programs that promote conservation and preserve local history.