cars, 4x4s, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), snow- 

 mobiles, mountain bikes, and motorized bikes. 

 Uses include pleasure driving, firewood 

 cutting, fishing, hunting, and accessing private 

 property. 



LOCATION AND 

 STANDARDS OF ROADS 



Roads that were built to access stands of 

 timber utilized existing trails and roads as 

 much as possible during construction. Prior to 

 the 1970s, roads accessed the project area 

 through various private ownerships to the 

 north, south, and west. No effort was made to 

 design a long-term transportation plan. These 

 factors have resulted in loop roads and roads 

 in draw bottoms, on steep grades, and along 

 lakeshores. Recreationists have expanded the 

 road system without authorization to access 

 areas they wished to use. 



The general lack of planning for road loca- 

 tions, standards, and management has re- 

 sulted in roads that do not meet BMPs. Most 

 of the roads lack surface drainage; the seg- 

 ments of roads built through draw bottoms 

 have become entrenched like log flumes. 

 There are extended grades where there is no 

 way to remove water from the road surface. 

 On the sides of roads, ditch relief was mini- 

 mally done; there are not sufficient culverts in 

 the roads, and some of these are plugged. 

 Since 1996, some new culverts have been 

 installed and drain dips have been built to 

 remove some surface water on South Beaver 

 Road. ' — 



Segments of roads along the shore of Little 

 Beaver Lake, the north shore of Beaver Lake, 

 and the west side of Woods Lake were built 

 with inadequate distances between roads and 

 lakes to allow for the filtration of sediments. 

 In spots along these lakeshores, the road fill 

 has fallen into the lakes. The lakeshores, being 

 high recreational use areas, have been en- 

 croached upon by general recreationists 

 building unauthorized roads, trails, boat 

 launch pads, campsites, pit toilets, etc. 



Except for several short road segments, all 

 roads are open to motorized traffic. The 



project area has only two berm/rock closures 

 and one gate that are effective. Several other 

 smaller berm/debris closures are either 

 breached or ineffective. 



The locations of the existing roads allow access 

 to various dispersed campsites, trails, 5 lakes, 

 and some private property. 



Due to the conditions and low standards of the 

 roads, recreational use accessing the northern 

 portion of the Beaver Lake Project area is 

 generally limited to horses, bicycles, ATVs, ti: > 

 and pickups. Sedans may attempt to drive 

 portions of South Beaver Lake Road, but 

 seasonally this may be difficult or impossible. 



None of the existing roads in the project area 

 meet the minimum standards required by the 

 County under their subdivision rules. These 

 rules have graduated requirements based on 

 the number of homesites on each parcel of 

 land. The larger the number of homesites, the 

 higher the standard of road must be. Road 

 standards consider such things as grade and 

 width of road, surfacing material, curve radii, 

 maintainability, speed design, and right-of- 

 way width. Another main requirement is the 

 year-round accessibility by emergency re- , 

 sponse vehicles, such as fire trucks, ambu- \i 

 lances, and law enforcement vehicles. Other = 

 considerations are alternate escape routes in 

 case of a major wildfire. ; 



ECONOMICS 



CURRENT CONDITIONS 



Demand for timber sales in the northwestern 

 region of Montana (Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, 

 and Sanders counties) is fair to poor (8/98) 

 and the future outlook is uncertain. Very few 

 bids were received on the 1998 timber sales 

 offered by Stillwater Unit. Based on recent 

 DNRC sales sold from western Montana the 

 stumpage prices appear to have fallen about 

 25% from last year. "The U.S. economy re- 

 mains very strong with high building activity 

 and wood product consumption, but we 

 expect reduced production later in the year 

 unless Japan and other Asian economies 



Chapter III: Affected Environment 



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