Information requested on the questionnaire included 

 a verbal description of the river assessment unit and 

 its location by hydrologic unit, MDFWP region, state 

 drainage number, water code, and the unit type (main 

 stem, basin or tributaries). Location of the lower and 

 upper boundaries were described verbally, legally, and 

 by river mile. Additional location description in- 

 cluded the drainage the unit was a tributary to, the 

 river mile and legal description of its confluence, and 

 its location by county. To insure accuracy and com- 

 pleteness, the coding of the location description was 

 completed by the river assessment staff. 



Additional information beyond the questionnaire was 

 necessary to evaluate consumptive recreation use. 

 MDFWP conducts telephone surveys annually to collect 

 hunter information. The information is coded by big 

 game hunting district. Harvest information including 

 effort and success from the 1983 hunting season was 

 used to develop the following consumptive recreational 

 data by hunting district: 



1. Hunter pressure - hunter days per square mile; 



2. Relative success - average number of hunter 

 days per harvested animal; 



3. National significance of resource - percent of 

 total hunter days by non-resident hunters. 



These data were entered into a computer database for 

 the four major big game species — deer, elk, black bear, 

 and antelope--and ranked by hunting district. Because 

 of the size of hunting districts and relative use, 

 western Montana (MDFWP Regions 1,2,3, and 4) was ranked 

 separately from eastern Montana (MDFWP Regions 5,6, and 

 7). 



These hunting district data were integrated into 

 the assessment process through data collected on the 

 questionnaire. The percentage of a hunting district 

 (H.D.) which fell within a river assessment unit was 

 determined (i.e., for unit JK3 below, 40% of the unit 

 was in H.D. 102, 20% in H.D. 110 and 40% in H.D. 120). 

 These percentages were multiplied by the pressure, 

 success and non-resident pressure rankings and a total 

 was calculated. For example: 



15 



