Summary of Recommendations 



11. A great opportunity exists for the de- 

 sign of monitoring activities within a 

 framework of cooperative research 

 management to provide definitive re- 

 sults for the calibration models. We 

 recommend that this opportunity not 

 be bypassed. 



12. Watershed level analysis and planning 

 to address cumulative effects and sched- 

 uling of activities should be standard 

 practice. Cooperative planning and 

 coordination of activities should be- 

 come a standard practice in all mixed- 

 ownership drainages. 



13. The Montana Water Quality Bureau 

 nonpoint source stream reach assess- 

 ment procedure (Montana Water Qual- 

 ity Bureau 1989) should not be relied 

 upon to identify problem areas relative 

 to the forest practices/water quality and 

 fisheries issue in Flathead Basin. 



14. Further analysis and interpretation is 

 recommended for the selected study 

 streams. 



Part II: 



Historical Perspective, 



Water Quality, 



AND Fisheries 



Basis for Recommendations 



LJuring the initial meetings of this Coop- 

 erative, land managers stated that they had seen 

 little or no quantitative evidence that past tim- 

 ber management practices had resulted in sig- 

 nificant degradation of water quality and fisher- 

 ies in the Flathead Basin. We discussed that 

 natural sediment loadings and variability in the 



Flathead Basin may be so high that increases 

 attributable to timber management activities 

 may be difficult to detect. Land managers stated, 

 "we want to know, one way or the other, if past 

 activities have had an impact on water quality 

 and fisheries in the Flathead Basin." Therefore, 

 one of the primary objectives of this Coopera- 

 tive was to gather quantitative data to address 

 this question. 



Analysis of data collected in the historical 

 record, water quality, and fisheries research 

 modules reveal that timber harvest activities 

 have resulted in: (1) changes in the spring 

 runoff pattern, (2) increased sediment loading 

 in streams and lakes, (3) increased nutrient 

 loading to streams and lakes (since sediments 

 represent a significant source of nutrients), (4) 

 increased attached algae biomass in streams 

 (algal growth responds to increased nutrients), 

 (5) increased percentage of fine sediments in 

 trout spawning gravels, and (6) increased sub- 

 strate imbeddedness. The largest source of sedi- 

 ments appears to be from new road construction 

 and subsequent existence of unstable roads. 

 (Supporting evidence from the BMP audits in 

 Module F revealed that the greatest number of 

 departures were related to road drainage and 

 road maintenance, followed by failure to recog- 

 nize and modify practices in the SMZ.) 



Increased sediment and nutrient loadings 

 represent significant threats to streams and lakes 

 in the Flathead Basin (as discussed in Modules 

 B, C, and D). Streams may be altered by such 

 increases that affect their food webs and habi- 

 tats. (See Module C.) Past studies have shown 

 that sediments likely represent the single larg- 

 est source of phosphorus to most lakes in the 

 Flathead Basin. (See Module B.) Erosion and 

 transport of sediments and nutrients in streams, 

 as a result of land use activities, have undoubt- 

 edly contributed to lake eutrophication. This 

 undesirable process results in stimulation of 

 algal growth, reduced water clarity, oxygen 



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Flathead Basin Cooperative Program Final Report 



