reservations in late 1988 or early 1989, based on the hearing 

 record, the EIS, and other relevant information. Unless 

 otherwise specified by the state legislature, the priority 

 dates for the reservations would be the dates the Board 

 adopts an order reserving water. The reservations, unlike 

 water use permits, are subject to review by the Board at 

 least once every ten years. The Board may change the amount 

 of the water reserved following this ten-year review. 



RECREATION AND AESTHETICS 



The Clark Fork Basin provides exceptional outdoor 

 recreation opportunities from near its headwaters to Lake 

 Pend Oreille. The region is known for its unusual scenic 

 beauty, pristine mountain lakes and streams, and abundant 

 fish and wildlife. Recreation and tourism are considered 

 valuable economic attributes of the region, but relatively 

 little has been done to measure their actual use, value, or 

 potential. 



The recreational value of a river is affected by many 

 factors, including public access, use levels, type of 

 scenery, rapids, fish and wildlife populations, level of 

 development, and on-site management. Public taste regarding 

 these and other river attributes vary so that measurements of 

 recreation values may differ according to the measurement 

 methods. The recreational and aesthetic values of the Clark 

 Fork Basin were described and ranked by the Montana River 

 Study (Graham 1986) . The study provides an inventory and 

 criteria to assess the significance of the river's fish and 

 wildlife values and recreational, natural, and cultural 

 features. The following has been paraphrased from a summary 

 of the study published by Montana Outdoors (Hilander 1988) . 



The upper Clark Fork drainage (above Milltown Dam) was 

 ranked high for most resource values. The upper basin 

 contains three sport fisheries ranked as Class I (unique or 

 outstanding) , and 30 stream reaches were ranked as Class I 

 for habitat and species value. A total of 740 stream miles 

 in the basin were ranked as Class II fisheries. Scenic 

 quality was ranked as substantial or outstanding on half of 

 the river segments evaluated. Recreational attributes were 

 ranked as moderate on 47 percent, with 34 percent either 

 substantial or outstanding. Three of the major tributaries 

 of the upper and middle basins — Rock Creek and the Blackfoot 

 and Bitterroot rivers — all have Class I fisheries, wildlife 

 areas, and natural areas. 



The lower Clark Fork drainage received lower rankings 

 largely due to the impacts of development. Fisheries values 

 were ranked Class I on only 1 percent of the reaches 



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