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<br />003292 <br /> <br />~ <br />, <br /> <br />caused the red~c~~on to occur. The co~~ittee co~~ents stressed <br />that the Forest plans should not arbitrarily decide that the <br />USFS budget would not permit a particular water yield improve- <br />ment activity, but should both show that activity, the associated <br />water yield increase, and an estimate of the costs thereof. <br /> <br />The committee asked the USFS representatives about the <br />instructions from the USFS headquarters regarding the economic <br />value of increased water yield, making reference to letters <br />last fall between PSIAC and the USFS. In reply, the committee <br />was informed that the Washington office has approved the use <br />of a benefit figure of $30 per acre-foot in the Rocky Mountain <br />and the Southwest Regions, but the Intermountain Region, which <br />lies in both the Colorado River and Great Basin regions, was <br />limited to a value of $l2 per acre-foot. <br /> <br />It was also reported that the Rocky Mountain Region plans <br />to develop the Coon Creek watershed in the Medicine Eow <br />National Forest in Wyoming as a large-scale demonst~ation site <br />for increasing runoff by vegetative management. This water- <br />shed has two paired sub-watersheds and covers a total of <br />6,238 acres of presently virgin forest. The USFS plans to <br />start road construction in this area in 1983 with the timber <br />sales, scheduled for 1986. <br /> <br />Pete Stender reported on the plans for vegetation management <br />within the Intermountain Region of the USFS. He said that <br />there are seven National Forests that are wholly or partially <br />within the Colorado River Basin within the Intermountain Region <br />and that only one EIS has been completed to the draft stage <br />on these National Forests. He referred to a particular problem <br />that has developed in Ashley National Forest, where the forest <br />pine beetle has heavily infested that forest and is consuming <br />the forest timber generally on the eastward portion of the <br />National Forest but"is moving westward through the National <br />Forest. After the forest pine beetle moves on, the trees <br />are left dead and the National Forest plans to start harvesting <br />the dead trees before they can fall down and begin to decay <br />and rot. As a result, there will be a large increase in the <br />harvesting of timber in this National Forest over the next 20-30 <br />years, going from the present level of harvesting of about <br />14 million board feet per year to about 35 million board feet <br />per year ten years from now. The harvest rate is then <br />scheduled to taper down to about 26 million board feet in <br />?O years from now and decline to a little less than l8 million <br />bark feet in 30 years. This heavy rate of tL~ber harvest <br />over the Ashley National Forest will result in a significant <br />increase in water yield, rising to a total of about 75 <br />thousand acre-feet per year 50 years hence. <br /> <br />Surrunary <br /> <br />The committee extended its appreciation to Dr. Silverman <br />and his staff, and to Milton Robinson, Tom Elson, and Pete <br /> <br />C-34 <br /> <br />r ' <br />.;' '.-'" ;.a._ ;,,~ <br />