Present economic conditions do not generally encourage more intensive 

 management on much of the private forest land. The demand for timber is 

 expected to increase. The demand for reserved forest areas is also 

 expected to increase. A large number of private forest landowners have 

 not harvested available timber in order to maintain scenic values. There 

 is potential to produce more timber than at present and at a reasonable 

 cost if more intensive management is applied on the more productive 

 forest lands which need management now and in the future. However, 

 because of the long growth cycle, most of the benefits of this more 

 intensive management would not accrue until after 2020. 



A serious limiting factor for improved management is the lack of roads 

 for preharvest management. Funds are not now available to construct 

 these roads on Federal land or to provide the needed management. Delays 

 now are expected to result in higher costs of management in the future. 



The Mineral Industry Scene 



The copper industry strongly dominates the economic scene of the Upper 

 Clark Fork subbasin and whatever happens to copper affects most of the 

 lives and employment of that area. Although the volume of production 

 remains fairly constant, employment in this sector persistently declines. 

 As with all stock (nonrenewable) resources, the highest quality and least 

 costly to extract ores are being depleted. Lower percentage ores provide 

 less gross revenue per ton mined and less profit for the copper company 

 to work with. 



The Agricultural Scene 



Less than 5.4 percent of the basin is in cropland. Three percent is in 

 irrigated crops and pasture and about 2 percent is in nonirrigated crops. 

 Crop yields and alternative crops are limited by the cool climate and 

 small uneconomical part-time farms. A lesser factor is irrigation water 

 shortages in late summer. Employment in the agricultural sector is 

 expected to continue its slow decline. 



The Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Scene 



This basin is an attractive area for recreation. However, many private 

 outdoor recreation developments are in financial trouble and many devel- 

 oped facilities on public land are not completely used during the outdoor 

 recreation season. Local residents and others frequently prefer areas 

 with solitude and without developed facilities. Both motorized and non- 

 motorized use of trails is increasing. 



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