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I I II I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1i"'I, -::", "'I n If 17 "-' ,..), o Cimarron River Basin - The Cimarron River originates in Union County, New Mexi co, and then flows across the Okl ahoma panhandle and the southeast corner of Colorado before entering Kansas. The basi n occupi es the southwest corner of Kansas. The Cimarron leaves Kansas in Comanche County and fl ows back into Oklahoma where it eventually empties into Keystone Reservoir, merging with the Arkansas system. The most signifi- cant limiting factor of the basin is intermittency of flow. Ground water maintains a number of pools in the basin as well as riparian vegetation. Due to lack of flows, most of the basin is Class C and D as regards fisheries. There are no major reservoirs or lakes in the basin. Several small ponds and lakes such as Morton County Game Management Pits rely on ground water for subsi stence. The threatened Arkansas darter inhabits portions of the basin (Kansas Fish and Game Commission). Oklahoma The dominant ecological region of the Oklahoma High Plains is the Grama-Buffalograss regi on, extendi ng into western Kansas. Thi s consi sts of mostly short to mid-grass prairie with buffalograss and blue and hairly grama predominating climax sites (U.S. FWS, 1981). U.S. F&WS has developed cover maps for Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico from LANDSAT imagery which may be referred to for vegetative cover information. Only a small portion of Oklahoma lies within the High Plains Region. The two main river basins involved are the North Canadian (Beaver River) Basin and the Cimarron River Basin. As with most of the High Plains riparian vegetation is found principally along main rivers and streams. The Cimarron River Basin was discussed under Kansas. Similar problems (intermittency) occur in Oklahoma, limiting the fisheries potential. The North Canadian River Basin lies south of the Cimarron. The stretch of the River in Beaver County has high priority fisheries. Other stretches of the River in the High Plains Region have limited fisheries. Texas The dominant ecoregion in the Texas High Plains is the Grama-Buffalograss section. Also occuring in Texas are the Tarbush-Creosote bush section of the 1-23