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l\:) , ~ ~ <0 social changes that would be caused by the EET industries themselves. The social and economic impacts associated with the industry it'self would be two to three orders of magnitude greater than anything that might be caused by the few extra workers needed to maintain and operate well fields. Perhaps the most important aspect of utilizing ground water as a source of supply is that relatively large rates of pumping would lead to mining of the ground water resource. The use of such waters, which have been scored over geologic time, represents an irrevocable decision to deplete an essentially nonrenewable resource. The question in all such instances is whether benefits would be maximized by using the resource ,now as opposed to using it at some point in the future. To the extent that consumption of surface supplies (including those which originate as tributary groung water) might be reduced by EET use of ground water, stream flows would increase relative to those to be expected were EETs to rely solely upon surface supplies. In turn, fishery habitat conditions and recreational opportunities could be different from those otherwise expected. Except in the White Basin, substitution of ground water for surface water would probably .have relatively little impact since the incremental effect of surface water consumption by EETs was estimated to be nominal. Impacts of Weather Modification. The primary economic and social impacts associated with winter orographic cloud seeding would stem from the increased snowfall to which it leads. It is the winter sports indus- tries and recreationists who probably stand,to gain the beneficial im- pac~s of weather modification. However, increased snowfall can have disadvantages. Amoni; these would be increased snow removal costs, in- creased avalanche control costs, potential damage to agricultural enter- prises such as fruit orchards, possible delays for ranchers attempting to graze animals in high pastures during the spring, possible increases in costs for ,mining and timbering operations, and others. Most attention to ecological impacts of increased snowfall to date has been focused on animals that must graze and browse during the winter, such as deer and elk. Heavier snows could force these animals to remain for longer periods on lower elevation winter ranges than would other- wise be the case, thus reducing the forage produced by such areas. In turn, reductions in herd size might result over the long run. Increases in snowfall might also cause the forest boundary to retreat over time, thus encouraging larger areas of tundra to develop. Increased runoff from increased snowmelt could impact both fishery resources and instream recreational opportunities. Insofar as stream fisheries are concerned, increased runoff would affect not only physical conditions, but possibly chemical and temperature parameters as well. 1-14