About Tms Report 



This is the Final Report summarizing ten individual studies conducted for the Flathead Basin 

 Forest PracticesAVater Quality and Fisheries Cooperative Program. The Cooperative Program was 

 administered by a Coordinating Team representing the Montana Department of State Lands Forestry 

 Division, the Flathead National Forest, Plum Creek Timber Company, L.P., the Montana Depart- 

 ment of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Montana Department of Health and Environmental Sciences' 

 Water Quality Bureau, the University of Montana, and the Rathead Basin Commission. 



The Cooperative Program's specific objectives were (1) to document, evaluate, and monitor 

 whether forest practices affect water quality and fisheries within the Flathead Basin, and (2) if 

 detrimental impacts exist, to establish a process to utilize this information to develop criteria and 

 administrative procedures for protecting water quality and fisheries. 



The ten individual studies included the evaluation of: (1) specific practices at the site level, (2) 

 accumulation of practices at the watershed level, (3) general stream conditions, (4) water quality 

 variables relative to levels of management activity in small watersheds, (5) fish habitat and 

 abundance relative to stream variables influenced by forest practices at the watershed level, (6) long- 

 term changes in large-stream dynamics related to historical records of natural and man-related 

 disturbances, and (7) changes in lake sediments relative to historical records of natural and man- 

 related disturbances. 



Contributors 



U.S. Forest Service — ^Flathead National Forest 



Plum Creek Timber Company, L.P. 



Montana Department of State Lands Forestry Division 



Water Quality Bureau of the Montana Department of Health and Environmental Sciences 



Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation 



University of Montana 



Flathead Lake Biological Station 



School of Forestry 



Montana Forest and Conservation Experiment Station 



U.S. Department of Agriculture — Mclntire-Stennis Program 

 Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks 

 Flathead Basin Commission 

 Montana Environmental Quality Council 

 Montana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society 

 Governor's Office, State of Montana 



