File:An assessment of the forest and range land situation in the United States (1981) (20334940622).jpg

Title: An assessment of the forest and range land situation in the United States
Identifier: assessmentoffore22unit (find matches)
Year: 1981 (1980s)
Authors: United States. Forest Service
Subjects: Forests and forestry United States; Forest management United States; Rangelands United States
Publisher: Washington, D. C. : The Service : for sale by the Supt. of Docs. , U. S. GPO.
Contributing Library: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library
Digitizing Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library

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Figure 2.5 Geographic Distribution of Metallic Minerals With Respect to Federally-Owned Lands
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Federal Lands ( I Forest Service Lands ^^H Bureau of Land Manapement Lands ^^1 Other Federal Lands Metallic Minerals ^ underway, and the oil pipeline completed between Prudhoe Bay and Valdez supplies an estimated 10 percent of the domestic consumption of the United States. The associated gas pipeline is still in the plan- ning stage but, once completed, these fields are expected to supply from 4 to 7 percent of U.S. natural gas consumption by 1990. Additional petroleum fields with commercial potential are believed to exist in other parts of Alaska including the Outer Conti- nental Shelf, but information is lacking as to the size of this resource. As with most resources in undeveloped regions, there is a strong distinction between physical exist- ence and a viable market. Mineral development is hampered by the uncertainty regarding the quantita- tive and qualitative aspects of mineral deposits, the inaccessibility of most areas, and the high cost of extraction. Minerals including coal, iron, copper and zinc are known to exist in large quantities, but it is uncertain if they can be competitively developed at this time. Plans are underway to develop the second largest molybdenum deposit known to exist in the world at Quartz Hill in southeast Alaska. In summation, it seems clear that the Nation is faced with the prospect of a substantial expansion of mining activity. Mining will have impacts on forest and range lands, and uses of forest and range lands will also affect mining activity. Impacts of mining on forest and range lands — The character of a mineral and its occurrence (liquid, gas, vein, bedded deposit, disseminated body), and the depth at which it occurs determine the method of extraction. Oil and gas are usually produced from wells, although development of methods to get oil from oil shale and gas from coal may lead to mining to obtain these minerals. Coal and other bedded de- posits are removed by strip mining where they occur close to the surface and by underground mining else- 52

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