SUMMARY 



Nearly half the mai or water producing areas in the high mountain areas of the 

 Western States lie within National Forest boundaries. Presently, some 52 million 

 people rely on water from these areas and by 1985 water demands will probably be double 

 those of the present. 



Sites for water development projects to assure timel>' and adequate water distribu- 

 tion are becoming limited and, in many cases, alternative sites are nonexistent. Such 

 projects are not only expensive (and likely to become more so), they often are estab- 

 lished in areas where they are served b>' watersheds damaged b\- past and current use and 

 before adequate protection and control of the use and management of these watersheds is 

 achieved . 



The Forest Service is being put in a potentially untenable position regarding the 

 use and management of critical watersheds by a public that needs increasing quantities 

 of water and at the same time is making increasing demands as to land use and land use 

 constraints. Because water development sites are limited and because future projects 

 will be more and more expensive, the Forest Service must be able to look ahead through 

 its watershed management planning to assure that such critical projects are given every 

 chance to succeed. 



Not only must watersheds damaged by past use and fire be stabilized and rehabili- 

 tated as present policy dictates, but also any use potentially damaging to fragile 

 watershed areas must be eliminated. This means getting control of watershed management 

 before, not after, water projects are established. The total cost of resources required 

 for the use of watersheds must be evaluated in terms of the benefits generated from 

 such use. 



In addition, to meet the water needs for the future, money spent on the provision 

 of adequate water must be spent efficiently in terms of priorities and the kind and 

 extent of mechanical treatments required to provide a watershed condition that will 

 assure the required performance of water storage and distribution systems. 



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