Road closures or road-use restrictions to 

 protect wildlife, water-quality resources, arid 

 road investments should be considered, where 

 appropriate. 



The design of the transportation system 

 should be evaluated to ensure it supports 

 potential fire-suppression activities, as well as 

 the safe and timely evacuation of the Beaver 

 Lake complex in the event of wildfire. 



There is disagreement among the collaborative 

 members as to whether there is an existing 

 right-of-way for the State from South Beaver 

 Lake Road to Skyles Lake Road. To fully 

 analyze transportahon planning options, the 

 existence or absence of that right-of-way 

 should be determined (in conjunction with 

 DNRC's Kalispell Unit). 



ECONOMICS 



There is concern that adequate information be 

 presented to enable decisionmakers and the 

 general public to consider both the short- and 

 long-term economic effects of the proposed 

 activities (or no action) on the individual 

 beneficiary trusts. The collaborative group 

 posed the following questions: 



• What are the expected returns on invest- 

 ment? 



• How are they calculated? 



• Would the timber harvesting and transpor- 

 tation-system improvements included in 

 this project increase, detract from, or have 

 no impact on the value of the area for 

 future timber management or for other 

 beneficial, revenue-generating uses, such 

 as recreation? 



• What would be the impacts of selling some 

 Beaver Lake cabin lease sites? 



Could the revenue obtained from the 

 sales be invested elsewhere to produce 

 returns equal to or greater than the 

 returns under current management? 

 Would the existence of private land- 



holdings in the interior of the Beaver 

 Lake project area have any effect on the 

 ability of the State to manage the area 

 for maximum benefit to the trusts? 

 Would the private ownership be 

 expected to result in a sharing of road 

 maintenance and construcHon costs or 

 other long-term financial benefits to the 

 State? ■ 



What would be the impact of establishing 

 four new cabin lease sites on Murray Lake? 



Would additional road building or 

 maintenance activities be required? 

 Would the existence of cabin sites on 

 the lake have any effect on the ability 

 of the State to manage the area for 

 other beneficial, revenue-producing 

 purposes? 



Would the long-term return to the 

 trusts from the leases exceed the costs 

 involved in establishing the lease sites? 



TRAILS 



Concern was expressed that timber-harvesting 

 and road-construction activihes should not 

 adversely impact important existing trail 

 systems for nonmotorized uses, such as horse- 

 back riding, bicycling, and hiking. 



This concern is addressed in the document 

 under the general recreation subsection of 

 Economics. 



VISUAL RESOURCES 

 (SCENERY) 



Concern was expressed that key scenic and 

 visual resources should be identified and 

 protected. Of particular interest are the scenic 

 vistas from developed sites on Beaver and 

 Whitefish lakes and the drive-by views on 

 roads within the project area. 



Chapter I: Introduction 



1-7 



