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8. Rocky Mountain Front Drainages 



The Rocky Mountain Front of northern Montana contains several watersheds 

 within the Statewide 208 study area. Between the Blackfeet Indian 

 Reservation and the town of Craig, Montana, there are four major water- 

 sheds that drain the east flank of the Rocky Mountain Front. All these 

 drainages are tributary to the Missouri River and include: Dearborn 

 River, (41U); Sun River, (41K); Teton River, (410); and part of the 

 Marias River (41P). 



East of the Teton and Sun River Ranger Districts (USFS) lie private, 

 state and BLM land ownerships. However, there is little, if any, 

 commercial saw-timber on these lands. Small post and pole operations 

 have harvested some private timber in the past, but there are no 

 harvesting activities at this time. The post and pole mills in Choteau 

 and Fairfield are obtaining their timber primarily from the Lincoln area 

 with a small portion coming from the Sun River District of the USFS. 

 Ranches may also be harvesting some timber for their own purposes (fences ; 

 corrals, increase grazing area), but none of these activities involve 

 commercial silviculture. 



The Dearborn River contains significant forestland, including some commercial 

 saw-timber. This area of USFS, state, private, and BLM ownership could 

 also support some post and pole type harvest. Therefore, coordination 

 of harvest activities should be pursued to prevent any water quality 

 impacts from harvesting too large an area within a short time or from 

 poor road design. 



Timber harvests on the Teton Ranger District were ended approximately five 



