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I. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



Certain si Ivi cultural practices adversely affect water quality in the 

 Montana Statewide 208 Area. The magnitude and duration of the impacts vary 

 with types of practice, location, size of the operation, timing, and a 

 number of other factors. A relatively small proportion of the total 

 operations cause water quality problems that are long-term or result in 

 substantial degradation of water quality. This is evident with the 

 high water quality found in many areas that have been previously disturbed 

 by forest management ac^-ivities. This is not to discount the significant 

 and long-term problems that do occur throughout the Statewide 208 Area. 

 Previous and existing forest practices have caused and are causing water 

 quality problems that could be prevented or mitigated to a great -extent. 

 Montana currently has no unified approach, either regulatory or non- 

 regulatory to control water quality impacts resulting from si Ivi cultural 

 practices. 



Recent legislation and enforcement, public pressure, assistance programs 

 and self-regulation have reduced the number of problems in the last few 

 years but have not totally solved the problem. Additional steps are 

 necessary to further reduce the number, severity, and duration of water 

 quality impacts resulting from forestry practices. 



The following recommendations are offered to gain more information about 

 the nature of the problem and, hopefully, to reduce impacts resulting 

 from forest practices. 



Recommendations 



(1) Encourage resource inventories and evaluations in commercial forest 

 areas. Emphasize studies in critical areas (as defined in Section 



