Wallowa–Whitman National Forest  The Wallowa–Whitman National Forest is a United States National Forest in the U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho. Formed upon the merger of the Wallowa and Whitman national forests in 1954, it is located in the northeastern corner of the state, in Wallowa, Baker, Union, Grant, and Umatilla counties in Oregon, and includes small areas in Nez Perce and Idaho counties in Idaho. The forest is named for the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce people, who originally lived in the area, and Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, Presbyterian missionaries who settled just to the north in 1836. Forest headquarters are located in Baker City, Oregon with ranger districts in La Grande, Joseph and Baker City. The national forest may be divided into several distinct sections, which together cover of land, including of designated wilderness. A large section of the forest is located in the rugged Wallowa Mountains, south of Joseph, Oregon, in the upper reaches of the Wallowa, Minam, and Imnaha drainage basins. The alpine area in the heart of the mountain range is designated as the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Bordering the national forest on the north, Wallowa Lake State Park is located on the shore of Wallowa Lake. A smaller section of the forest is located north of Enterprise, Oregon, along Joseph Canyon. This section is joined to the first by the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, which protects the stretch of the Snake River known as Hells Canyon, the deepest gorge in North America. The recreation area includes portions of the Nez Perce, Payette, and Wallowa–Whitman national forests, but is managed solely by the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest. It contains the Hells Canyon Wilderness, jointly managed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The Hells Canyon Scenic Byway passes through the national forest on Forest Service Road 39. Another large section of the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest is located west of La Grande and Baker City, Oregon, in the Elkhorn Mountains, a sub-range of the Blue Mountains. It borders the Malheur National Forest on the southwest and the Umatilla National Forest on the northwest. This area includes the upper reaches of the John Day and Grande Ronde rivers. The North Fork John Day and Monument Rock wildernesses are jointly managed by the adjacent national forests. The historic gold mining city of Sumpter is surrounded by the Wallowa–Whitman on all sides.