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1-24 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Chi huahuan Desert Provi nce (Desert Di vi s i on) and the Mesqui te-Buffal ograss section of the Prairie Brushland Province, Prairie Division (Bailey, 1978). The Grama-Buffalograss section is mostly composed of short and mid- , grasses. The Tarbush-Creosote bush section is dominated by thorny shrubs with some short grasses. Mesquite may be found on deeper soil s. The Mesquite-Buffalograss section is dominated by mesquite, mid- and short grasses and junipers. Riparian vegetation is primarily limited to larger stream channel s and rivers. Detailed cover maps for Texas may be found in the u.s. F&WS report on the Region (1981). The major river basins of the Texas High Plains are the Canadian, Red, Colorado and Pecos Ri ver basi ns. Si nce most of the surface waters are not ground water dependent, they will not be described. One of the unique features of the southern High Plains, particularly Texas, is the playa lakes found in the area. Playa Lakes The Southern Pl ai ns regi on is characteri zed by wi nd defl ated runoff basins lined with slowly permeable clay of the Randall Series. These are the playa lakes. The majority of the region is cultivated, and the lakes provide some of the most noteworthy wildlife habitat. The most obvious feature of the lakes is their waterfowl habitat value. Bolen et al., 1979, notes that this area is second in importance for win- tering waterfowl in the Central Flyway, next to the Texas Gulf Coast. They a 1 so note that in peak years, more than 900,000 ducks have wi ntered at Buffalo Lake National Wildl ife Refuge and more than 100,000 at Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge. Mallards are of a particular significance in the area, and the High Plains Mallard Management Unit was created for this reason. In addition to wintering waterfowl, as many as 2,017 broods (expanded data) may be produced in a 12-county area of the Texas panhandle.