28 are infected with Dwarf Mistletoe (Arceuthobium americanum). There is little insect activity 

 currently in any of the stands, but there is an increasing susceptibility to Mountain Pine Beetle 

 (Dendroctonus ponderosae) (Hopkins (Hagle et al. 1987) in the lodgepole pine. 



Cumulative Impacts of Past Activities 



Only three small patches of timber totaling 26 acres have been harvested from the project area by 

 thinning, for post and rail materials within the last 15 years. The remainder of the project area 

 has not had any harvesting activity. 



Most timber harvesting within the drainage occurred prior to 1978 with a majority of the earlier 

 harvest having occurred on private land in the vicinity of Scotchman and Miners Gulch. In the 

 1980's, harvesting shifted to U.S.F.S. land west of Upper Willow Creek near Alder, Niles, and 

 Standish Creeks. 



Two groups control access to the School trust lands. U.S.F.S. Road #4325 is a high quality road 

 under jurisdiction of the Deer Lodge/Beaverhead National Forest that provides access to Sections 

 5, 8, and 17; and the ELM, which controls access to trust lands in Sections 21 and 28. These 

 tracts can also be accessed from a county road east of Upper Willow Creek. This access would 

 require crossing private property and crossing Upper Willow Creek. These roads are generally 

 closed during the entire year to the public except for walk-in hunting in the fall. Past and present 

 uses of the proposed project area include grazing, timber production, and mineral exploration. 



AFFECTED RESOURCES 



Hydrology and Fisheries 



Watersheds 



The proposed timber sale is located in the Upper Willow Creek drainage near Philipsburg, 

 Montana. Upper Willow Creek is a fourth order perennial tributary to Rock Creek in the Upper 

 Clark Fork River Basin. The proposed activities are located across 5 different parcels of School 

 trust land that are drained by several tributaries to Upper Willow Creek. These tributaries 

 include: Beaver Creek, Bear Creek, Huepeck Gulch, Arbuckle Gulch, Slusser Gulch, an 

 Unnamed Tributary in Section 17 and an Unnamed Tributary in Section 21. 



Beaver Creek is a second order perennial tributary to Upper Willow Creek with a watershed area 

 of approximately 1,648 acres. Ownership within the drainage is predominately U.S. Forest 

 Service. The headwater portion of the drainage is entirely U.S. Forest Service land. The Lower 

 portions of the watershed are under both State and private ownership. 



Stream flows from Beaver Creek are completely diverted into a man-made irrigation ditch at a 

 point located on trust land in the SWl/4 of Section 8. The diversion consists of an earth berm 

 that blocks off the natural stream channel. There is no headgate structure controlling the rate of 

 flow into the ditch. The irrigation ditch flows through a series of small pothole ponds as it flows 



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