demonstrate secondary effects is not available. In a broader State-wide contest, money paid to 

 wood-industry workers results in increased State income-tax collections, as well as increased 

 purchases in other areas of the State. Since the State revenue is spent on projects State-wide, the 

 entire State shares, in part, in the benefits that result from the timber sale. In particular, Montana 

 schools benefit additionally by being able to use these revenues to fund schools throughout the 

 State. 



Impacts on Local Communities 



Estimates were made of the impact on local communities by using community multipliers 

 information. 



The impacts on local communities are estimated by quantifying jobs and income that are 

 associated with harvesting and processing timber into final products. Regional response 

 coefficients for the Southwest part of Montana indicate that direct jobs per MMBF harvested is 

 9.6 per MMBF and total income per MMBF of harvested volume is $325,1 18 or an average 

 income of $33,866.46 per job (Keegan and Wichman, 1996). 



Cumulative Economic Effects of All Alternatives 



The last survey of Montana's forest products industry was completed in 1994 (Keegan et al. 

 1995). Long-term impacts of timber supply are difficult to assess given today's global markets. 

 The importance of State Timber Sales to regional economy is dependent upon the wood supply 

 originating on U.S. Forest Service, private non-industrial, private industrial, and tribal lands. 

 This proposed sale represents approximately 2% of sawtimber processing for the following 

 counties Granite, Ravalli, Powell, Deer Lodge, Silver Bow, Beaverhead Madison, Gallatin and 

 Park. These estimates are from Montana's Forest Products Industry "a Descriptive Analysis" 

 1969-1994 (Keegan et al. 1995). Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of 

 Montana, Missoula, Montana and were adjusted for the loss of a mill in Ravalli county. 



Irreversible and Irretrievable Commitments of Natural Resources 



Irreversible commitments result from decisions to use or modify resources, which cannot be 

 reversed except over a long period of time (Montana DNRC, 1996). Forests are a renewable 

 resource and consequently timber harvesting does not represent an irreversible commitment of 

 resources. The proposed timber harvesting was designed to emulate historic occurrences and 

 conditions with even and uneven-aged stands as a result. Under these proposed harvests, some 

 old trees would be removed, but most would be retained within the project area to continue to 

 contribute to structure in the residual stands. Although construction of roads is not considered 

 irreversible, the planned road system would be maintained to provide long-term access to all of 

 these parcels. There are no expected irreversible results from the proposed actions. 



Irretrievable commitments refer to resource production or use of a renewable resource, which is 

 lost for a shorter period of time usually due to land allocation or scheduling decisions (Montana 

 DNRC, 1996). Under the preferred Alternative, C, growth and revenue that is lost due to lack of 



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