SUMMARY OF LAND AND WATER 

 IN THE CONSERVATION NEEDS INVENTORY 



Land and Water Area 



The 1967 Conservation Needs Inventory shows that Montana has a 

 total land area of 93,089,323 acres, which is 34,144 acres less than the 

 acreage shown in the 1958 inventory. This reduction in land area result- 

 ed from the construction of reservoirs larger than 40 acres in size and 

 now classed as inland water areas. These large inland waters comprise 

 1,016,544 acres. The total land area for each of the fifty-six counties 

 was taken from the 1964 Agricultural Census. About 30 percent of the 

 land area in the State was excluded from the inventory. 



Non- Inventory Acreage 



The total non-inventory acreage amounts to 27,571,145 acres, of 

 which 96 percent is in Federal ownership and comprises 26,569,755 acres. 

 The total non-inventory acreage decreased by 620,490 acres during the 

 period 1958 to 1967. The decrease is due to the sale of isolated 

 tracts of Federal lands to private owners and some Federal lands were 

 inundated by water. 



The urban and built-up areas have increased by 17,082 acres since 

 the 1958 study and now total 817,940 acres. This includes all cities, 

 towns and built-up areas of more than 10 acres in size. Industrial sites 

 (except for strip mine and borrow areas), railroad yards, airports, 

 cemeteries, golf courses, primary and secondary roads and railroads are 

 considered as built-up areas. 



Small water areas have increased by 16,730 acres since the 1958 

 inventory and now total 183,450 acres. These small water areas are 2 

 to 40 acres in size and include ponds, lakes and reservoirs, as well as 

 small live streams that are less than 660 feet wide. The increased 

 water area is due in part to the inclusion of small streams passing 

 through private lands that were omitted in the previous inventory and 

 the construction of a number of small reservoirs. 



Refer to Table I for Land Area, Non-Inventory and Inventory 

 Acreage by counties for 1958 and 196 7. 



