GENERAL FOREST ASPECTS 



83 



Table 11. Forests of the Clearwater Section. 



Here also in the southern and drier part of the section the 

 various species are found at correspondingly greater elevations. 



In the first three sections which cover an area 60 miles or 

 more in width from the Canadian boundary to the Salmon River, 

 a distance of about 250 miles are represented the forests of 

 northern and northeastern Idaho lying adjacent to Montana. 

 This constitutes the White Pine Belt of the Rocky Mountains. 

 With the white pine are the species usually associated as men- 

 tioned above and the strip is favored with more ample precipi- 

 tation and higher relative humidity than the areas lying farther 

 to the east. Although the species typical of this belt do occur 

 in the sections subsequently to be treated they are not except 

 in localities, a dominant feature anywhere over large areas. 

 These conditions are almost entirely limited to the valleys of 

 the Flathead and the Kootenai. 



The Kootenai Section, No. 4, covers the area drained by 

 the Kootenai River in Montana, about 3200 square miles. This 

 river crosses the international boundary and enters Montana 

 near the 115th Meridian, flows south about 50 miles and turning 

 sharply to the northwest, recrosses the boundary about 60 miles 

 west of its first crossing. The southern boundary of this sec- 

 tion is the summit of the Cabinet Range, the eastern the divide 

 between the Kootenai and the Flathead, sometimes known as the 



