I’m a river junkie. If you gave me the choice between living next to the ocean versus a wild river, I’d choose the river any day. I’m an especially big fan of free-flowing, all natural, un-dammed, “Wild and Scenic” rivers.

A river with “Wild and Scenic” status in the U.S. is protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. This act was passed by Idaho Sen. Frank Church in 1968.

The act protects rivers from being dammed or altered from their free-flowing sources. This status also means the scenery around the river is protected from development, logging and mining.

If you’ve never been to a “Wild and Scenic” river, I’d highly recommend it. Idaho alone, which contains the most river miles of any state, has five river systems protected under the act.

I spent most of June rafting and hanging out on the St. Joe River, which runs near the northeastern border of Idaho and Montana. This river gained “Wild and Scenic” status in 1978 and has reportedly remained unchanged since then. The St. Joe is fed by glacial and snow melt, so it remains crystal clear and cold throughout spring runoff.

“The Joe,” as we river guides call it, runs through a wilderness that ecologists classify as a temperate rain forest. It’s cool, wet and rainy most of the year, so there are a ton of ferns and moss. It’s very reminiscent of the forests of the Olympic Peninsula. A section of the river contains whitewater runs through a small but spectacular canyon north of Avery, Idaho. This river would be an excellent weekend getaway for anyone looking for a short overnight hike or a scenic drive and some car camping. The Lochsa River in southern Idaho is a continuous class IV and V ride during spring runoff in May. This river was one of the original rivers protected in the Wild and Scenic Act. After June, the river’s level drops and becomes a hotspot for world-class fly-fishing. There are also famous hot springs in this area worth checking out, such as Lolo, Jerry Johnson and Stanley Hot Springs. Moreover, Montana’s Clark Fork River has made an incredible comeback from environmental pollution. The Clark Fork clean-up is an ongoing story in which the community and government came together to clean up the river, though this river is not a part of the protection act. The Clark Fork River was once backed up by the Milltown Dam. This dam held back sediments and toxins from the mining operations in the area.

The river became so polluted that Alberton Gorge, the now famous Montana whitewater hotspot, was un-runnable due to the foamy mess at the end of each rapid. The river was so polluted it became a Superfund Site under the EPA. Over the course of the last 20 years, the river has been on its way to recovering from environmental catastrophe. The river has been cleaned up and the Milltown Dam was removed.

Now, rivers across the Pacific Northwest face new challenges. These challenges range from invasive fish species and noxious weeds, to industrial transportation on the highways lining the rivers. If you visit a free-flowing river to spend a day hiking, fishing or rafting, you’ll see why they are worth protecting.