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particular concern because unstable roads are known to be major sources of fine <br />particles in some streams in the Flathead catchment, as elsewhere (see Megehan et al. <br />this volume). Accelerated erosion, locally associated with logging and road building, <br />has increased the volume of fine particles within the channel of disturbed streams, <br />clogging interstices and reducing interflow and aeration of the substratum. Speciosity <br />and biomass of zoobenthos may be reduced by 80% in highly sedimented areas <br />compared to adjacent cobble substratum (Spies 1986) and survival of bull charr eggs <br />and juveniles decreases markedly when fines (particles < 6.35 mm) exceed 40% of the <br />substratum volume (Weaver and Fraley 1991). Moreover, recent work has shown a <br />clear correlation between sedimentation rates in on-channel lakes and road building <br />activities in the McDonald and Whitefish subcatchments (Spencer 1991). Inflow of <br />riverine sediments apparently fertilize the water column of Flathead Lake in the spring <br />based on the observation that phytoplankton productivity is highest in years of high <br />runoff and high sediment loading from the catchment (J. Stanford and B. Ellis <br />unpublished); however, the sediment load has not been apportioned in terms of natural <br />versus human disturbances. <br />Interactions Between Natural and Human Disturbances Manaaement Considerations <br />Many different management jurisdictions exist within the Flathead River Basin. <br />Seventy-two percent of the basin is federally administered, involving the Flathead <br />National Forest (U.S. Department of Agriculture), Glacier National Park (National Park <br />Service), National Wildlife Refuges (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and the Flathead <br />Indian Reservation trust lands (U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs). Large areas of State and <br />Tribal (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation) <br />lands exist, with the remainder of the basin primarily in privately held tracts. Hungry <br />Horse Dam is a federal project operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Kerr Dam <br />is located within the Flathead Indian Reservation and operated by a private <br />corporation, Montana Power Company, Inc., on the basis of a rental agreement with the <br />Tribes as mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Many other <br />Federal, State and local agencies have statutory authority to manage specific <br />resources in the catchment. Since the headwaters of the North Fork are in British <br />Columbia (Figure 3), many additional provincial and Canadian Federal agencies are <br />involved. For example, the authority of the International Joint Commission (organized <br />under the U.S.-Canada Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909) was invoked during 1986 - <br />1988 to quantify and reference the potential impacts of a large open-pit coal mine <br />(International Joint Commission 1988) proposed by a Canadian subsidiary of an <br />American corporation in Canada (Figure 3). This maze of management jurisdictions <br />15