PREFACE 



This publication summarizes the findings of a timber resource inventory- 

 conducted in Beaverhead, Broadwater, Deer Lodge, Granite, Jefferson, Lewis 

 and Clark, Madison, Powell, and Silver Bow Counties (Working Circle 3). It 

 is the fourth in a series of forest inventory reports. Each report displays 

 and analyzes inventory data for a different portion of the state. A statewide 

 report will subsequently be published by the Intermountain Forest and Range 

 Experiment Station in cooperation with the Montana Department of State Lands 

 (DSL), Forestry Division. 



The inventory of Working Circle 3 began in November, 1977, under the 

 authority of an existing cooperative agreement between the Intermountain 

 Forest and Range Experiment Station, Region 1 of the USD A Forest Service, 

 and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Forestry 

 Division. Under the agreement, the Forestry Division, transferred to the 

 Department of State Lands in 1981, would supervise the collection of forest 

 inventory data on all lands in Working Circle 3 except those administered by 

 the USDA Forest Service or the USDI Bureau of Land Management. The 

 USDA Forest Service would provide technical assistance and 60 percent of the 

 funding for the project. The state of Montana would provide the remaining 

 40 percent. 



Aerial photo interpretation began in December, 1977, and was concluded 

 in June of 1978. Field data collection from 460 forested plots began in May 

 and continued until the last plot was measured in December, 1978. 



Readers should note that because the data was rounded off to reach the 

 numbers used in this report, the column and row totals in some tables may 

 not be the exact sum of the individual cells. 



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