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<br />Table 24 - PRIVATELY OWNED FOREST AND <br />WOODLAND CONSIDERED DESIRABLE FOR <br />ALTERNATE RECREATION USES1 <br /> <br />Subbasin <br /> <br />Upper Missouri <br />Yellowstone <br />Western Dakota <br />Eastern Dakota <br />Platte-Niobrara <br />Middle Missouri <br />Kansas <br />Lower Missouri <br /> <br />Missouri Basin <br /> <br />Estimated Land <br />Acreage (Acres) <br />1,155,000 <br />967,000 <br />523,000 <br />25,000 <br />1,124,000 <br />224,000 <br />250,000 <br />2,926,000 <br />7,194,000 <br /> <br />I Acres shown are based on data in the USDA National In- <br />ventory of Soil and Water Conservation Needs, 1958. <br /> <br />Several million acres of Federal land are either <br />available for significant recreation use, or, are suitable <br />for conversion from ancillary to primary recreation use <br />through recreation development or establishment of <br />large, designated areas of unusual interest and <br />opportunity. Public domain lands undoubtedly have the <br />greatest untapped potential in these last 'two respects. <br />However, the potential of reservoir areas, national <br />wildlife refuges, and national forests and grasslands for <br />either general recreation opportunity or development is <br />quite significant. <br />Too little is known about the availability of State and <br />local government administered acreages, for either <br />recreation use or development, to allow any meaningful <br />basinwide estimates to be made. However, contributions <br />from these lands are expected to be importan t. <br /> <br />Fish and Wildlife <br /> <br />Approximately 1.1 million acres of the basin lands <br />are devoted to wildlife as a single-purpose use and about <br /> <br />54 <br /> <br />10 million acres are used primarily for wildlife in <br />conjunction with other uses. <br />Almost all of the basin lands, or some 300 million <br />acres, have a capability for supporting some type of fish <br />and wildlife use. However, the use of additional land for <br />single-purpose wildlife development or primarily for <br />wildlife wiII depend upon economic, political, and <br />environmental considerations as well as the attitudes of <br />present owners and operators of the land. It has been <br />determined that sufficient land exists in the basin that <br />could be dedicated to fish and wildlife uses to satisfy <br />projected needs. Since the projected needs are greatest in <br />the more densely populated downstream subbasins, <br />where little public land exists, most of the future need <br />for fish and wildlife land in this portion of the basin <br />must be met by using land now in the private sector <br />presently used for agricultural production. <br /> <br />Other Uses <br /> <br />It is estimated that 8.4 million additional acres of <br />land will be removed from the agricultural land base by <br />2020 for such purposes as transportation, urban and <br />built-up areas, mineral development, and water areas, <br />and because of gullying. In addition, land will be <br />required for other purposes included in the framework <br />plan such as recreation, fish and wildlife, and water <br />storage. The assumption was made that land resources <br />would be available for such purposes, but the quality of <br />land available in the future for specific purposes was not <br />examined. This becomes important when unique <br />qualities are required before land can serve a particular <br />purpose. Consequently, it may be desirable to dedicate <br />some lands to a specific use far in advance of the time <br />that the need for such is expected to materialize. <br /> <br />- <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />