Recreation 



The recreational assessment inventoried the attributes and 

 values of 47 river segments in the Rocky Mountain Front drainage 

 area, totaling 823 miles of river, or about seven percent of the 

 12,528 miles studied statewide. No stream miles received a Class 

 I (Outstanding) rating from managers and recreation users (Table 

 46). Eighteen percent received a Class II (Substantial) 

 recreational resource value and 67 percent were rated Class III 

 (Moderate), reflecting the high standards of the raters. Many 

 Montanans, and people from states not blessed with so many free- 

 flowing rivers, would undoubtedly classify more rivers as 

 Outstanding. 



The most common positive reasons for assigning a value class 

 were high use levels (14 percent of the river miles), good scenery 

 (11 percent), and good fishing (10 percent). Consistent with 

 that finding, recreational use was heavy on 14 percent of the 

 river mileage, moderate on 26 percent, and low on 60 percent. 

 Similarly, access was rated as abundant on only five percent of 

 the inventoried streams, compared to limited access on 34 percent 

 and restricted access on 36 percent. 



Scenic quality was rated as Substantial or higher for 27 

 percent of the mileage studied, and as Moderate for 66 percent. 

 The drainage contained two river segments (26 miles) that provided 

 primitive recreation settings, while 34 percent were rated as 

 semi-primitive and 60 percent as transitional from semi-primitive 

 to rural. 



Fishing from shore was again the most common recreation 

 activity, a primary or secondary use on 98 percent of the segments 

 (all but two). Canoeing was a primary activity on 140 river miles 

 and a secondary use on 554 miles, with rafting occurring on about 

 half of the river miles and kayaking on one quarter. Just 24 

 percent of the river miles inventoried were rated as not boated, 

 showing the importance of floating in this drainage. The most 

 common land-based recreational activity in the Rocky Mountain 

 Front drainages was hunting, a primary activity along half of the 

 river miles. 



Botanical Features 



The Rocky Mountain Front contains 19 botanical natural feature 

 sites -- 18 (eight percent) of which received a final value rating 

 of Class I or II. This is close to the average nine percent for 

 the 12 drainages in the state. This drainage also contains the 

 second largest number (10) of botanical natural feature sites that 

 received a final value of Class I. Eleven of the 19 sites in this 

 drainage are within either Glacier National Park, or U.S. Forest 

 Service wilderness areas, and ten of those 11 sites received a 

 final value rating of Class I. 



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