Estimating the Present Use of Land 



For guidance of the County Needs Committees, the State Needs Committee 

 provided data about the laijd use groups from several sources. 



Soil survey data were developed by the Soil Conservation Service showing 

 the acreage and capability classification (Appendix 3) . 



The "Timber Resources for America' s Future" prepared and published by 

 the Forest Service showed forest and woodland acreages. In mapping land 

 samples for this Inventory, the Soil Conservation Service used essential- 

 ly the same definition for forest as that used by the Forest Service in 

 making forest surveys. 



Existing data furnished to the counties included total land area, from 

 the 195A Census except when reduced by water bodies formed since 194-7. 

 The latter were from published sources, and in some cases directly from 

 the agencies involved. The data on areas of Federal land were provided 

 by the agencies responsible for adjoinistration of such land or from in- 

 formation furnished by the Department Committee, 



Land use included irrigated and dry cropland from the Census, with some 

 reduction for wild hay, and irrigated permanent pasture and native hay 

 derived from the Census and Montana Agricultural Statistics. Pasture 

 and range was based on the Census, but adjusted after forest and wood- 

 land and other land on farms were accounted for. The Forest Service 

 supplied data on forest and woodland. Other land on farms came from 

 the Census. 



To guide the county committees in their estimates, information from the 

 Bureau of Land Management was supplied on land that might enter the In- 

 ventory by 1975, from the Bureau of Reclamation on projects that might 

 be developed, and cropland acreages reported by Agricultural Stabiliza- 

 tion and Conservation Service. 



The County Needs Committee arrived at an adopted acreage which it be- 

 lieved most accurately represented the present acreage in each of the 

 land uses in the county, after considering the estimates of land uses 

 provided by the State Committee. 



Estimating Expected Changes in Land Use by 1975 



After the estimates of present land use had been accepted by the State 

 Needs Committee, the County Needs Committee estimated the changes in 

 land use that were expected to occur in the county by 1975. The esti- 

 mates of changes in land use took into consideration the physical 

 capabilities of the landj present land use and trendsj expected demands 

 for agricultural, forest, and other products and services as reflected 

 in the economic framework; and the need for farming systems that are 



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