Its creation was the result of a 20-year campaign by Spokane Mountaineers club president Ray Kresek and local conservationists, who sought to protect the area from logging and development.

Salmo-Priest was chosen ahead of a proposal in the Kettle River Range to the west because of its boreal woodland caribou habitat, the last remaining in the contiguous United States.

[2] The high-country Salmo-Priest Wilderness is a somewhat wishbone-shaped area atop two Selkirk Range ridges that intersect at 6,828-foot (2,081 m) Salmo Mountain.

This rugged area is home to several endangered and threatened species, including woodland caribou, grizzly bears, and gray wolves.

[4] The Selkirk Mountains are the last remaining refuge for woodland caribou in the contiguous United States, particularly the Salmo-Priest Wilderness.