The costs related to the administration of the timber sale program are only tracked 

 at the Land Office and statewide level. DNRC does not track project level costs 

 for individual timber sales. An annual cash flow analysis is conducted on the 

 DNRC forest product sales program. Revenue and costs are calculated by Land 

 Office and Statewide. These revenue-to-cost ratios are a measure of economic 

 efficiency. 



Revenue cost ratios: 



3.2.11 Endangered Species (Issue #11) 



3.2.11.1 Bald Eagles 



Bald eagles occur within the Analysis Area (see Figure 3-2), primarily 

 associated with the Bitterroot River, which is approximately 0.5 miles from 

 the Project Area to the east. Bald Eagles are listed as a Threatened species in 

 Montana under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Forest habitats 

 frequented by bald eagles are typically near (<1 mile) large, visible bodies of 

 water. Bald eagles show a strong preference for multi-layered, mature forest 

 stands with large emergent trees and snags for nesting and perching sites 

 (MBEWG 1991). Winter habitat generally occurs near local food 

 concentrations, generally along major river drainages and around large lakes 

 (MBEWG 1991). 



Known nest sites and nesting habitat: Bald eagles nest and winter along the 

 Bitterroot River, however no bald eagle nest sites or roosting habitats are 

 known to occur within the Project Area. The closest known active nest is the 

 Pulp Mill nest site located approximately 9.5 miles to the northwest. The 

 Schroeder nest site is located along the Bitterroot River approximately 1 mile 

 to the southeast, but this nest site has not been active for the past 2 years and 

 the nest has fallen out of the nest tree (D. McCleerey, BLM, pers. conmi., 

 3/19/02). Potential use by nesting bald eagles is very low within the Project 

 Area due to the limited availability of large, emergent trees preferred for 

 nesting and perching over most of the Project Area, although some large trees 

 do occur scattered along the ridge and in patches in the area outside of the 

 proposed treatments in the southeastern portion of the section 15. Stands 

 proposed for treatment are generally composed of single strata stands of 

 medium to small sized trees. Foraging by bald eagles likely occurs within the 

 Analysis Area, primarily associated with the Bitterroot River, however some 

 foraging on road and winter killed ungulates also likely occurs in the area to 

 the east of the Project Area. 



Deadman Gulch Timber Sale Environmental Assessment 3-1 1 



