CATEGORY DESCRIPTION 



Current wildlife values were based on two criteria: species and habitat 

 values. Habitat values included the occurrence of specially designated lands 

 and the quality of riparian habitat within each assessment unit. The species 

 criteria considered the occurrence of habitats important to threatened and 

 endangered species and species of special interest or concern. The species 

 value also reflected the relative abundance and diversity of game and 

 furbearer species. 



Data on recreational values of wildlife resources were also collected for 

 each assessment unit. Information included both consumptive and 

 nonconsumptive wildlife uses. Consumptive values were based on the results of 

 big game harvest telephone survey conducted by MDFWP each year. 

 Nonconsumptive values were based on subjective evaluation of each assessment 

 unit's aesthetics, scientific and educational value, and degree of 

 nonconsumptive wildlife uses. 



Due to the difficulty in applying the harvest information (compiled for 

 only one year by hunting district) to each river assessment unit, the 

 consumptive wildlife value was not considered sufficiently accurate to rank 

 assessment units. Review of the nonconsumptive wildlife information indicated 

 it also was too subjective for determining the final recreational value. 

 Therefore, the use of recreation value in the final rankings was postponed 

 until these data could be further improved and verified (see Section on 

 Project Evaluation). 



VALUE CLASSES 



Each river assessment unit in Montana was assigned to one of the 

 following four value classes to denote its value for wildlife: 



I - Outstanding wildlife resource 

 II - Substantial wildlife resource 

 III - Moderate wildlife resource 

 IV - Limited wildlife resource 



V - Unclassified wildlife resource 



CRITERIA 



HABITAT VALUE 



Habitat criteria for each river assessment unit were designed to 

 recognize specially designated lands and to evaluate riparian habitat 

 quality. Specially designated wildlife lands included Wild and Scenic River 

 corridors, National Wildlife Refuges, National Fish Hatcheries, State 

 Wildlife Management Areas, Waterfowl Production Areas, Nature Conservancy 

 Preserves, Conservation Easements and U.S. Forest Service (USES) and Bureau 

 of Land Management (BLM) Research Natural Areas. 



Five riparian characteristics were evaluated for habitat quality. These 

 characteristics included the condition of the riparian zone; the amount of 



