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<br />o erosion and reduce or store sediments and salts are possible on limited areas on some ecological <br />o sites but should be constructed so as not to reduce or eliminate existing vegetative cover <br />W whenever possible. <br />~ <br /> <br />PERENNIAL AND ANNUAL GRASS - This community is dominated primarily by perennial <br />bunch grasses and annual grasses. The community makes up 6 % of the watershed or <br />approximately 9,862 acres and is generally found between 4100 to 5500 feet elevation. <br />Precipitation ranges from 5 to 12 inches per year. Thirty five to seventy percent of the <br />community is made up of perennial or annual grass with the most dominate perennial grasses <br />being; indian rice grass (Orysopsis hymenoides), galleta (Hilaria jamesii), sand dropseed <br />(Sporobolus cryptantha), and bottlebrush squirrel tail (Sitanion histrix), during some times of the <br />year cheat grass (Bromus tectorum) may appear to make up a major component of this <br />community. Some ecological sites may have salina wildrye (Elymus salinas) as the most <br />dominant perennial grass species. Various shrubs are also present in varying degrees depending <br />on the site and aspect, some of these are: broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae), shadscale <br />(Atriplex confertifolia), fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens) and rabbit brush (Chrysothamnus <br />viscidiflorus), Several different annual and perennial forns may also be interspersed within this <br />community as well. These communities are usually found on the less saline, deeper, well <br />drained soils in the transition zones between the salt desert shrub and the sagebrush or the salt <br />desert shrub and the blackbrush communities and generally provide the best ground cover within <br />the watershed. <br /> <br />The ecological sites found in this community are: <br /> <br />Desert sandy loam <br />Desert shallow sandy loam <br />Semi-Desert sand <br />Semi-Desert sandy loam <br />Semi-Desert shallow loam <br />Semi-Desert stony loam (salina wildrye) <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />Production on ecological sites in this community range from a high of approximately 800 <br />Ibs/acre in favorable years to as low as 100 Ibs/acre during poor years, with an average <br />production of about 450 pounds per acre during normal years. <br /> <br />Ecological sites within this community that receive more than 9 inches of annual precipitation <br />would respond well to any type of seeding effort and would also respond well to intensive <br />grazing management. <br /> <br />SAGEBRUSH - This community occupies a narrow altitudinal belt in the watershed generally <br />between 5000-7200 feet and occurs on floodplains, alluvial fans, inset fans, drainages and <br />flooded toe slopes. The community makes up 2 % of the watershed or approximately 2,590 <br />acres. Annual precipitation ranges from 9-16 inches. Ecological sites making up this <br />community consist of vegetation associations consisting of 30 to 70 percent sagebrush, the most <br /> <br />19 <br />