68

Aquatic/riparian10

Seven key salmonids were selected for detailedanalysis. These are bull trout, westslope cutthroattrout, Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and redbandtrout; steelhead; and ocean-type and stream-typechinook salmon. Less area within the basin iscurrently occupied by three or more key salmonids(fig. 17) than existed historically (fig. 18). Figure19 shows the distribution of subwatersheds withby one or more key salmonid species stonghold.Key salmonid strongholds are subbasins thatsupport strong populations based on the consider-ation of life history forms, trends in populationnumbers and relative abundance of individuals.Strong populations (fig. 20) are associated withhigher-elevation forested lands, and the propor-tion declines with increasing road densities (fig.21). The largest areas of contiguous watershedssupporting strong populations of key salmonidsare associated with the Central Idaho Mountains,the Snake Headwaters, and the Northern CascadesERUs. Important but more restricted areas arefound in the Blue Mountains, Upper Clark Fork,and the Northern Glaciated Mountains ERUs.Strongholds varied between 32 percent of theoccupied range for Yellowstone cutthroat troutand less than 1 percent for stream-type chinook/salmon (table 12).

Many of the aquatic strongholds occur in areas oflow road density (the definitions of road densitycategories are in figure 16). The higher the roaddensity, the lower the proportion of subwatershedsthat support strong populations of key salmonids(fig. 21). There is an apparent difference in theresponse of aquatic systems between FS-adminis-tered lands and all other lands at very low roaddensities. Strongholds within the “all lands”category decline more quickly as road densityincreases. Strongholds on FS-administered landsremain stable or slightly increase. At higher roaddensities FS-administered lands provide a greaterproportion of strongholds. For the Basin,56 percent of the unroaded area is in key

salmonid strongholds but the proportion variesfrom a high of 76 percent in the Snake headwatersto none in the Upper Klamath (table 13).

Designated wilderness and potentially unroadedareas are important anchors for strongholdsthroughout the Basin. More than 19 millionacres (8 million ha) (27%) of FS- and BLM-administered lands in the Basin contain strong-holds (40% FS and 4% BLM). These strongholdsubwatersheds contain large areas of unroadedland (about 11.6 million acres/4.7 million ha),averaging 58 percent of the area of an individualsubwatershed.

The use of intensive forest management to re-estab-lish more natural landscape patterns and disturbanceregimes has variable risks and benefits across thelandscape. However, the consequences of large firesare dependent on habitat conditions and the inher-ent resiliency of local populations. Damage toaquatic ecosystems from fire may be most severewhen they have been seriously degraded and frag-mented. Intensive management of watersheds thatsupport healthy populations may pose greater riskfor disruption of watershed processes and degrada-tion of habitats than does fire.

Rehabilitation of depressed populations of anadro-mous salmonids cannot rely on habitat improve-ment alone but requires a concerted effort toaddress causes of mortality in all life stages. Theseinclude freshwater spawning and rearing, juvenilemigration, ocean survival, and adult migration.Thus, to realize the benefits of improved migra-tion and ocean survival, there must be mainte-nance of good-quality freshwater habitats andhealthy populations as well as increases in thedistribution of high-quality spawning and earlyrearing habitats. Federal land management playsa key role in spawning and rearing habitats.

Analysis of the extensive stream inventory datareveals that major decreases in pool habitat, bothfrequency of pools and deep pools, have occurredover the last 40 to 60 years. These are attributableto losses in riparian vegetation, road and highwayconstruction, timber harvest, grazing, farming,

10Details on historical trends and current status of the Basin’saquatic/riparian ecosystem are in the Component Assessment--Aquatic chapter (Lee and others 1996).

69

Figure 17—Current number of key salmonid species present within the Basin.

70

Figure 18—Historic number of key salmonid species present within the Basin

71

Figure 19—Number of key salmonid species within strongholds.

72

Figure 20—The location of aquatic strongholds in relation to areas of very low road densities.

73

Table 12—Historical and occupied range and habitat status for key salmonids within the Basin Assessment area.1

Occupied SensitiveHistorical range Strongholds Strongholds Depressed to

range classed in on on FS/BLMSpecies occupied as strong wilderness FS/BLM FS/BLM uses

------------------------------------------ percent -----------------------------------------

Bulltrout 45 13 55 95 82 yes

Westslope cutthroat 85 25 44 94 65 yes

Yellowstone cutthroat 66 35 19 70 46 yes

Redband 69 22 8 56 58 yes

Steelhead 46 1 9 70 61 yes

Stream-type chinook 28 <1 50 88 77 yes

Ocean-type chinook 30 15 0 20 25 minor

influence

1For detailed explanation see Lee and others (1996).

0

0.1

0 1 2 3 >=4

Road Density Class

All Lands

Forest Service Lands

Pro

po

rtio

n S

tro

ng

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7and other disturbances. The losses appear to begreatest in low-gradient, biologically-productiveareas. In-stream wood and fine sediment were alsofound to be influenced by management activities.

The composition, distribution, and status of fishwithin the Basin are different than they werehistorically. The overall changes are extensive, andin many cases irreversible. Even with no furtherhabitat loss, the apparent fragmentation andisolation may place remaining populations of keysalmonid species at risk. Much of the nativeecosystem has been altered, but core areas remainfor rebuilding and maintaining functioning nativeaquatic systems. The system of dams in the Basinhas altered water flows in the larger water systemsresulting in changes in water temperatures, timingand level of peak flows, barriers to fish migration,

Figure 21—Proportion of subwatersheds supportingstrong populations of key salmonids by road densityclass and land ownership.

74

reductions in riparian areas, and changes in otherphysical attributes. Consequently, the aquaticecosystem no longer supports the same speciesof fish, macroinvertebrates, and aquatic plants.

A variety of species such as kokanee salmon,chinook salmon, lake trout, brown trout, Atlanticsalmon, coho salmon, black bass and othercentrachids, and ictalurids were introduced inthese systems to diversify angling opportunities,create trophy fisheries, and to provide forage forpotential trophy species. Many ephemeral lakesin the Great Basin have been stocked with crappie,bass, bullheads, and other centrarchids andictalurids. Cultured strains of rainbow trout havebeen widely used to sustain put-and-take fisheriesin lakes and rivers where angler harvest or habitatdegradation were too excessive to rely on naturalreproduction. These introductions have provided

increased fishing opportunities and socioeconomicbenefits.

Terrestrial7

Over 43,000 species of macroorganisms are esti-mated to occur in the assessment area and 17,186species are known to occur (table 9). Microorgan-isms, critical to ecosystem health and function,probably tally at least several hundred thousandspecies. This biodiversity results from the widevariety of habitats, topographic conditions, andprehistoric events in the Basin. The terrestrialecology staff evaluated 14,028 species of

Table 13—Percent of predicted unroaded (<0.1km/km2) area in subwatersheds (~8,000 ha insize) with key salmonid species strongholds.

Ecological reporting unit Unroaded area in strongholds

---------percent---------

Northern Cascades 45

Southern Cascades 13

Upper Klamath 0

Northern Great Basin 21

Columbia Plateau 30

Blue Mountains 45

Northern Glac. Mtns 54

Lower Clark Fork 33

Upper Clark Fork 49

Owyhee Uplands 42

Upper Snake 2

Snake Headwaters 76

Central Idaho Mtns 72

Basin Average 56

7Detailed information on historical trends and current statusof terrestrial ecosystems is in the Component Assessment--Terrestrial chapter (Marcot and others 1996).

75

macroorganisms and explicitly included 1,339individual species and 143 species groups in adatabase on species-environment relations. Therewere 296 species (excluding fish) of particularinterest to American Indian tribes identified.8 Interms of current status, the assessment produced:lists of habitats and associated species with greatestdeclines in area or distribution since historic times,and species-environment relations (SER) databaseslisting species by habitats and ecological functions,for use in determining potential effects of ecosys-tem management activities and crafting the activi-ties to emphasize or restore specific habitats orfunctions. It also contains or cites 538 Geo-graphic Information Systems (GIS) maps of spe-cies distribution and maps of biodiversity hotspots; and descriptions of key ecological roles offungi, lichens, bryophytes, and invertebrates formaintaining ecosystem health and long-termproductivity and sustainable use of resources.

Overall, there is a limited scientific understandingof the current status of most individual species andtheir specific ecology within the Basin. Numerousspecies may play key ecological functions in main-taining ecosystem diversity, productivity, andsustainability. At present, there are many speciesof plants (including fungi and lichens) and ani-mals (including invertebrates and vertebrates)that might be in jeopardy of population declinesor local extirpation because of changes in theirnative habitats and environments. Federallydesignated threatened, endangered, and candidatespecies of all taxonomic groups occur in the Basin.

Some 264 taxa (species, subspecies, or fish stocks)have federal listing status. Among non-fish taxa,these include 184 category 2 candidate, 31 category1 candidate, 11 endangered, and 6 threatened taxa,

and 1 Federally proposed as endangered taxon.The FS and BLM list 538 species (excluding fish)as sensitive; some of the threatened and endangeredspecies and many of the additional species of poten-tial conservation concern are dependent on environ-mental or habitat components that were notevaluated at the broad scale. Table 10 indicatesthreatened and endangered species tallies; it does notproject species viability or extinctions. By compari-son, there are an estimated 43,684 species in theBasin: 18,946 plants and allies; 24,270 invertebrates;and 468 vertebrates (tally includes only macro-organisms; bacteria, protozoa, rotifers, nematodes,microfungi and fish are excluded) (Component Assess-ment--Terrestrial).

We mapped the locations of relatively high levelsof both plant and animal biodiversity or speciesrarity and endemism (fig. 22). These centers ofbiodiversity were locations that either had unusu-ally high numbers of species rarity and endemism,or were locations with unusually high numbers ofspecies of all abundance classes. Locations withthree or more centers of concentration of the twotypes mentioned defined smaller “hot spots” forplants and animals combined (fig. 23). We identi-fied 12 hot spots of species rarity and endemismand seven hot spots of high biodiversity. Addi-tional hot spots are likely to occur in SouthernIdaho and could also be identified at finer levels ofgeographic resolution than were used in the Com-ponent Assessment. Hot spots included areas insouthwestern Oregon, the Snake River, the Co-lumbia River Gorge, and in the desert steppes ofcentral and southern Washington. Natural areason Federal lands total approximately 29 millionacres (11.72 million ha) in 26 land allocationcategories.

To determine how well natural areas might sup-port vertebrates in the Basin, we compared thedistribution of sizes of existing natural areas to thehome range sizes of vertebrate species. Existingnatural areas might be suitable for supportingsmall populations of at least 70 percent of verte-brate species. No estimates were made concerning

8Personal communication. 1996. Ralph Perkins, U.S. ForestService, Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem ManagementProject. On file with: U.S. Department of Agriculture, ForestService, U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Man-agement, Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem ManagementProject, 112 E. Poplar, Walla Walla, WA 99362.

76

suitability of natural areas to support other typesof animal, plant, and other life.

We also identified a number of taxa worthy ofadditional attention. These include 394 fungalspecies; 40 functional groups of lichen species; atleast 400 apparently rare bryophyte species; 280vascular plant species and 82 rare plant communi-ties; 144 rare and endemic invertebrates (gastro-pods and insects); and additionally, variousvertebrates and microbiotic crusts. Among thevertebrates are the aquatic-dwelling amphibians,reptiles susceptible to ground-disturbing manage-ment activities, and birds and mammals associatedwith habitats that are now scarce, declining, orincreasingly fragmented including native grass-lands, sagebrush, and old low- and mid-elevationforests.

Economics13

Overall, the economies of the four states makingup the bulk of the Basin (Idaho, Montana, Or-egon, and Washington) are doing well. In 1990

their economies comprised3.6 percent of the U.S.economy with the economyof Washington being largerthan the sum of the otherthree (U.S. Department ofCommerce 1993). Of thefour states, Washington isthe only one with higher percapita income than the U.S.average, but in all fourstates, per capita income isgrowing faster than the U.S.rate (table 14). Similarly,earnings per job is increasingin Montana, Oregon, andWashington faster than inthe United States; onlyIdaho has a smaller percent-age change. Except in Mon-tana the poverty rate is lower

than the U.S. average. Unemployment rates inIdaho and Montana are lower than the U.S. aver-age and decreasing at a faster rate. In Oregon andWashington the reverse is true: unemploymentrates are higher than the national average andfalling at a slower rate.

In the Basin, the six metropolitan counties (see fig.24) have been the center of economic growth,with higher rates of growth in total employment,total personal income, non-farm labor income,and a greater ability to weather national recessionsthan other counties. They tend to have lower percapita incomes than their counterparts throughoutthe United States; this gap has been wideningsince 1980. Some economists believe this indicatesthat amenities are attracting surplus labor, as hasbeen found elsewhere (Power 1996, Treyz 1993);alternatively, these smaller metropolitan areas maylack the highest paying jobs. Earnings per job inmetropolitan areas of Idaho (primarily Boise) areincreasing at a faster rate than the national average.Poverty rates in Washington’s metropolitan coun-ties are increasing at a faster rate than the nationalrate, though the levels are still lower than thenational average.

13Detailed information on historic trends and current eco-nomic status of the Basin is in the Component Assessment--Economics chapter.

The Component Assessment—Terrestrial chapter reports on analyses conductedthrough October 1995. Since that time, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service has

published a change in their species status program, (Federal Register, February28, 1996) essentially replacing the three candidate species categories with asingle category of candidates for listing with a one-year review period of thisprogram change (U.S. Government 1996). In this change, most of the speciesthat were classified as Category 2 or 3, and 303 taxa that were Category 1candidates, are no longer included in the list of candidate species. A number ofplant and animal species addressed in this assessment were denoted as Candi-date Category 1 or 2 when the data were gathered. Of those 131 Category 1 or2 plants, four became Candidates in the Federal Register notice: Castilleja christii,Erigeron basalticus, Sidalcea oregana var. Calva, and Thelypodium howellii spp.Spectailis . Of those 34 Category 2 animals (none had been designated Category1 in the assessment area), only mountain plover (Charadrius montanus ) and spot-ted frog (Rana luteiventris ) were still designed as Candidates. All other plantsand animals we dropped from the list of Candidates. The assessment retains thelistings for two reasons: (1) their analyses and data collection preceded the rul-ing change; and, (2) their charge was to address species’ ecologies and conser-vation status, and the C2 status in particular still helps to denote species ofpotential conservation concern deserving attention.

77

Tabl

e 14

— C

urre

nt e

cono

mic

indi

cato

rs fo

r th

e U

nite

d St

ates

, Ida

ho, M

onta

na, O

rego

n, a

nd W

ashi

ngto

n; to

tals

, met

ropo

litan

and

non

-m

etro

polit

an c

ount

ies,

cur

rent

and

per

cent

cha

nge

sinc

e pr

evio

us y

ear

or d

ecad

e.

Uni

ted

Sta

tes

Idah

oM

onta

naO

rego

nW

ashi

ngto

n

Per

cent

Per

cent

Per

cent

Per

cent

Per

cent

Cat

egor

yD

ata

chan

geD

ata

chan

geD

ata

chan

geD

ata

cha

nge

Dat

ach

ange

Tota

l:

Per

cap

ita in

com

e1$2

0,10

54.

9$1

7,51

25.

0$1

7,37

66.

2$1

8,60

55.

0$2

1,28

96.

0

Ear

ning

s pe

r jo

b$2

6,53

15.

6$2

3,21

65.

4$2

0,70

07.

5$2

3,91

65.

7$2

6,91

07.

3

Pov

erty

rat

e213

.8%

11.3

13.3

%5.

116

.1%

30.8

12.4

%16

.610

.9%

11.0

Une

mpl

oym

ent r

ate3

6.8%

-8.1

5.6%

-9.7

5.0%

-18.

07.

2%-2

.77.

5%1.

4

Met

ro C

ount

ies:

Per

cap

ita in

com

e$2

1,24

74.

7$2

0,11

45.

3$1

9,15

44.

7$1

9,61

95.

0$2

2,08

46.

0

Ear

ning

s pe

r jo

b$2

7,94

45.

7$2

5,37

96.

1$2

2,56

15.

8$2

5,11

35.

7$2

7,84

47.

4

Pov

erty

rat

e12

.1%

6.1

10.7

%5.

112

.7%

30.8

11.3

%16

.610

.0%

11.0

Une

mpl

oym

ent r

ate

6.7%

-6.9

4.3%

-10.

44.

3%-1

8.9

6.5%

-4.4

7.0%

0.0

Non

-Met

ro C

ount

ies:

Per

cap

ita in

com

e$1

5,68

26.

2$1

6,37

74.

7$1

6,81

76.

8$1

6,23

65.

1$1

7,40

05.

7

Ear

ning

s pe

r jo

b$2

0,08

55.

5$2

2,08

74.

9$2

0,05

88.

3$2

0,69

05.

7$2

1,43

16.

6

Pov

erty

rat

e17

.1%

8.2

14.3

%5.

117

.1%

30.8

15.0

%16

.615

.6%

11.0

Une

mpl

oym

ent r

ate

7.4%

-7.5

6.2%

-10.

15.

3%-1

5.9

8.9%

-1.1

10.3

%3.

0

Sour

ce: U

SDA

Eco

nom

ic R

esea

rch

Serv

ice,

Aug

ust 1

, 199

5 A

UT

OFA

X S

tate

Fac

t She

ets.

1In

com

e an

d ea

rnin

gs fi

gure

s ar

e 19

92 w

ith

chan

ge 1

991-

92, f

or U

.S.,

Ore

gon,

Was

hing

ton;

Ida

ho a

nd M

onta

na a

re 1

993

figur

es w

ith

chan

ge 1

992-

93.

2 P

over

ty r

ates

for

all a

re 1

990

data

, wit

h ch

ange

198

0-90

.3 U

nem

ploy

men

t fig

ures

are

199

3, w

ith

chan

ge 1

992-

93, f

or U

.S.,

Ore

gon,

Was

hing

ton;

Ida

ho a

nd M

onta

na a

re 1

994

figur

es, w

ith

chan

ge 1

993-

94.

78

Figure 22—Location of centers of endemism and rarity and of centers of biodiversity (for plants and animals).

79

Figure 23—Location of hotspots for rarity/endemism and biodiversity.

80

Figure 24—Recreation opportunities and metropolitan areas account for higher rates of population growth by county.

81

Tabl

e 15

—E

mpl

oym

ent i

n ec

onom

ic s

ecto

rs o

f Uni

ted

Stat

es, t

he B

asin

, and

Bur

eau

of E

cono

mic

Ana

lysi

s (B

EA

) re

gion

s fo

r 19

95; a

ster

isks

indi

cate

val

ues

abov

e th

e na

tion

al a

vera

ge.

Bas

inId

aho

Red

mon

d-In

dust

ryN

atio

nav

erag

eTr

i-Citi

esS

poka

neM

isso

ula

Fal

lsTw

in F

alls

Boi

seP

endl

eton

Ben

d1

But

te

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

perc

ent-

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

----

Agr

icul

ture

ser

vice

s1.

12.

6*4.

4*1.

11.

9*2.

7*4.

7*2.

5*2.

6*2.

1*0.

9

Min

ing

0.7

0.5

0.2

0.6

0.6

0.8*

0.3

0.4

0.0

0.0

1.5*

Con

stru

ctio

n5.

24.

74.

24.

65.

4*5.

4*5.

4*5.

13.

54.

63.

5

Man

ufac

turin

g14

.111

.711

.311

.211

.59.

611

.712

.615

.0*

16.0

*4.

4

SIC

242

0.6

2.5*

1.0*

2.8*

5.0*

0.5

0.5

2.3*

2.7*

5.5

*2.

4*

Tra

nspo

rtat

ion

4.8

4.3

3.3

4.3

5. 7

*3.

74.

74.

9*4.

53.

86.

0*

Tra

de21

.521

.121

.122

.1*

21.4

21.9

*21

.120

.419

.020

.720

.3

FIR

E 3

7.5

6.0

4.6

6.7

6.2

5.5

5.6

7.7*

4.5

5.5

6.8

Ser

vice

s28

.425

.023

.226

.827

.427

.221

.424

.220

.923

.731

.7*

Gov

ernm

ent (

all)

14.6

16.4

*14

.618

.8*

15.0

*15

.8*

11.0

16.3

*17

.8*

15.1

*23

.1*

S

tate

& lo

cal

10.4

12.2

*11

.914

.010

.511

.89.

010

.313

.411

.118

.5*

F

eder

al4.

14.

2*2.

74.

7*4.

5*4.

02.

06.

0*4.

4*4.

14.

6*

Far

m e

mpl

oym

ent

2.2

7.8*

13.0

*3.

9*4.

9*7.

3*14

.2*

6.0*

12.2

*8.

5*1.

8

Not

e: F

arm

em

ploy

men

t is

calc

ulat

ed a

s th

e di

ffer

ence

bet

wee

n to

tal e

mpl

oym

ent a

nd c

over

ed e

mpl

oym

ent.

Bec

ause

it is

cal

cula

ted

as a

diff

eren

ce it

incl

udes

roun

ding

err

ors.

1R

edm

ond-

Ben

d is

the

port

ion

of th

e Po

rtla

nd-S

alem

BE

A re

gion

that

is in

the

Bas

in.

2T

imbe

r an

d w

ood

prod

ucts

.3Fi

nanc

ial,

insu

ranc

e, a

nd re

al e

stat

e in

dust

ries

.

82

The non-metropolitan counties in the Basinhave even better economic indicators thanmetropolitan counties. Per capita income ishigher than the national average in all fourstates, although, except for Montana, growthrate is lower than the national average. Earn-ings per job in non-metropolitan counties arehigher than the national average in the threeBasin states, excluding Montana.

The Basin’s economy is small relative to theUnited States, accounting for only one percentof U.S. employment in 1995. The economicstrengths of the Basin were characterized by identi-fying those economic activities within it that havea higher percentage of employment than thebenchmark economy of the United States. Datafor the percentage of employment in various eco-nomic sectors and areas (see table 15) suggest thatthe traditional notion that manufacturing is thedriving sector of the Northwest economy, is toonarrow (for example see Beuter 1995). The eco-nomic strengths of the Basin include agricultureand agricultural services. Mining and manufactur-ing, are less important to economies in the Basinthan for the nation. Basin-wide, including bothpublic and private lands, timber and wood prod-ucts account for 2.5 percent of the jobs, cattlegrazing accounts for 1.0 percent of the jobs, andmining accounts for 0.5 percent of the jobs. Thepercentage of jobs attributable to recreation is notshown here because the Bureau of EconomicAnalysis (BEA) does not define it as an industry.In the discussion of recreation below, we calculatethat 14.6 percent of jobs in the Basin are attribut-able to recreation.

A more complex story emerges by looking atindividual economic areas (called BEA regions;fig. 25) within the Basin. Agriculture is aneconomic strength in every region except theButte BEA region. Mining in the Butte BEAregion is double that of the national average,and it is important in the Idaho Falls BEAregion as well. Manufacturing is a strong activ-ity only in the Pendleton and Redmond-BendBEA regions, and forest products and food

processing are important components of both.The importance of trade in each BEA region(except the Pendleton region) mirrors theUnited States. The same can be said aboutthe service sector except there is more variabil-ity around the Basin. In the Boise BEA region,finance, insurance, and real estate are importantactivities. In several BEA regions constructionand transportation are strong parts of theeconomy. The percentage of jobs supportedby recreation is highest in the Idaho Falls(30%), Missoula (31%) and Redmond-Bend(25%) BEA regions.

The past two decades have seen rapid populationgrowth, and the evolution of what was a mature,resource-based, economy into a diverse economyoriented toward technology-based, transportation,and service sectors, with manufacturing, agricul-ture, and government sectors expected to declineover the next 50 years. Changes in current FS andBLM activities have little effect on the economyof the Basin. FS and BLM activities may havegreater affect in specific communities, however.This study found there are 29 out of 539 census-recognized places that may be sensitive to levelsof public timber harvest14 (fig. 26).

People hold both existence values and use valuesfor ecosystem goods, functions, and conditions.Of the value provided society by the FS- andBLM-administered lands in the Basin now andby 2045, the existence of unroaded areas provides47 and 41 percent; recreation provides 41 and 53percent; timber provides 11 and 5 percent; andrange provides less than 1 percent at both times.Market basket values per acre of FS- and BLM-administrated lands in the Basin are shown byERU in figure 27. This market basket is onlya subset of the measurable values of FS- andBLM-administered ecosystem goods, functions,and conditions: existence value of unroaded areas,recreation, timber, and range. This is the subset ofecosystem values (goods, function, and conditions)

14The Component Assessment--Economic chapter definedisolated timber- dependent communities as those communi-ties located more than 50 miles from another incorporatedarea with more than 10,000 people, and not located in eitherrecreation or metropolitan counties.