The Environmental Scene 



This basin generally has a high-quality environment. Some localized 

 pollution occurs. The principal air pollution problems are from indus- 

 tries near Butte, Anaconda, Missoula, and Columbia Falls. 



The principal water quality problems are salts and heavy metals ions in 

 the main stem of the Clark Fork River from Butte downstream. 



The more serious erosion occurs along streams as bank erosion. Some 

 small projects are constructed each year to control such erosion. 



Subdivision and other human activities are encroaching on winter ranges 

 critical for big game animals and on riparian and wetland habitat that is 

 critical to other wildlife. 



Preferred Plan 



Five of the nine planning objectives in this Forestry summary can be 

 largely and directly accomplished by the acceleration of existing pro- 

 grams of the Department of Agriculture. The Department can assist 

 indirectly by providing technical advice on the other four planning 

 objectives. As shown in chapter IV and tables 15 and 16, the annual 

 National costs and benefits of the Department of Agriculture's portion of 

 this preferred plan summary amount to $36.4 and $36.6 million 

 respectively. Other costs and benefits in the preferred plan would 

 require State and local initiative and possibly assistance from other 

 Departments of the Federal Government. From the standpoint of the 

 residents in the study area, Regional economic effects appear to be much 

 more favorable than from the National perspective. Besides these eco- 

 nomic values, the preferred plan has strong nonmonetarily measurable 

 environmental benefits. 



An important realization from the study is that the area's Forest 

 resources alone are not enough to support the basic employment to match 

 the population projection used in this study. The same applies to the 

 farming sector. The only other major historical source of basic employ- 

 ment in the basin is the mining sector which, in spite of recent declines, 

 has the mineral resources capable of supporting considerably larger 

 levels of basic employment. 



Other than this, the only other source of significant basic employment 

 would be the development of non-land-resource-dependent industries such 

 as in the area of electronics, education, export cottage industries, and 

 tourism. 



A summary of the preferred plan for forestry related activities is pre- 

 sented in table 1. 



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