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Major recreation activities include backpacking, camping, sight- <br />seeing, hunting, fishing, winter sports, and four -wheel drive tours. <br />The areas' mining history provides many points of interest for <br />recreationists and photographers. <br />Minerals <br />The U. S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Mines Reports state that <br />significant portions of both Primitive Areas and contiguous areas are <br />mineralized (see Current Situation Map). Portions of the Uncompahgre <br />Area are listed as the most intensively mineralized in the United <br />States. Past production from the area has yielded $332 million worth <br />of minerals. Mining remains an important part of the local economy. <br />In 1965, 32 percent of Colorado's mineral production came from the <br />East Section of the Area. <br />Water <br />The average annual water yield from the Review Area is approximately <br />880,000 acre feet, all of which is contributory to the Colorado River. <br />The Western Section has three reservoirs as well as several Federal <br />Power Commission licenses containing powerlines, flumes and other power <br />facilities. One undeveloped license is within the Wilson Mountains <br />Primitive Area. <br />Forage <br />In addition to the forage used by wildlife and recreation livestock, <br />the Area provides grazing for 37,480 sheep and 3,970 cattle. <br />Wood <br />There are over 169,000 acres of forested land in the Review Area. <br />Some 16,580 productive acres are within the Primitive Areas and have <br />been excluded from inventory upon which the allowable cut is based. <br />An additional 43,275 acres of productive forest land in the contiguous <br />undeveloped lands are in a deferred category pending determination of <br />their future management and possible inclusion in the allowable cut base. <br />Land Ownership <br />There are about 73,600 acres of intermingled private lands within <br />the Area. The Uncompahgre Primitive Area and the Wilson Mountains <br />Primitive Area contain some 16,001 and 748 acres of private land, <br />respectively. <br />The development and use of the private lands have had significant <br />adverse effects on efforts to manage the Primitive Areas as a wilderness <br />resource. Under current authorities and laws, these same influences, <br />adverse to Wilderness, will continue and very likely grow greatly. <br />-4- <br />