Area 81 covers the Star Valley country between the Salt River Range and the Idaho border—a long, narrow agricultural valley flanked by timbered mountain on both sides. Elevations run from about 5,800 feet on the valley floor to over 10,000 feet on the Salt River and Caribou range crests. The valley itself is irrigated hay and pasture along the Salt River and its tributaries, with cottonwood-and-willow river bottoms and a string of small Mormon farming towns running its length—Afton, Thayne, Etna, Alpine. The mountains rise steep on both sides: aspen, lodgepole, Douglas fir, and Engelmann spruce on the lower flanks, climbing into spruce-fir and alpine meadow at the higher elevations. The Salt River Range is the eastern wall; the Caribou-Targhee on the Idaho side forms the western. Bridger-Teton NF on the Wyoming side, Caribou-Targhee on the Idaho side, and significant private ranch and farm in the valley itself. The HMA and Walk-In programs add access on private. US-89 is the paved spine running the length of the valley. Afton is the supply town—gas, the world's largest elkhorn arch over the main street, real grocery, the Cowboy Donut. Cell service is good in the valley and degrades on the mountains. Elk hunting has a strong private-land dynamic—the elk feed on the agricultural ground and bed in the timber—so access is the central planning question. Mule deer in the foothill aspens.