Laserfiche WebLink
<br />002313 <br /> <br />Forest products within the basin are derived primarily from the mountain' <br /> <br />areas. Roughly 300 million board feet of lumber are harvested annuaUy. The <br /> <br />chief sawmill operations are located in Flagstaff, Williams, Winslow, <br /> <br />Fredonia, Springerville, Heber, and McNary. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Although less than 2 percent of the, basin is under ..cultivation, the produc~ <br /> <br />tion of crops, .,>irtually all by irrigation, is a vital segment of the region's <br /> <br />economy. Yields per acre are among the highestin the Nation in both quantity <br /> <br />and. value. Crops produced include cotton, lettuce and other vegetable crops, <br /> <br />melons, commercial hay and seed, dairy products; poultry, citrus fruits, and <br /> <br />many others, 'Major dams, such as Roosevelt, Horse Mesa, Mormon ,Flat, <br /> <br />Stewart Mountain, and Granite Reef on the Salt River, Horseshoe and Ba,rtlett <br /> <br />on the Verde, Coolidge on the Gila, Lyman on the Little Colorado,. and Hoover, <br /> <br />Davis, Parker, Laguna, and Imperial on the main stream of the Colorado' River <br /> <br />provided the means for the development in the last 50 years of an intensive and <br /> <br />greatly expanded irrigation agriculture. Development of the groundwater supply <br /> <br />" <br />has occurred throughout the basin, but the developments in the Safford Valley <br /> <br />. and in Pinal County on the Gila River are particularly dependent on pumped <br /> <br />water. This agricultural use, coupled with increasing demands on groundwater <br /> <br />for industrial,' commercial, and urban residential uses, has resulted in a <br /> <br />general lowering of groundwater tables. The situation is critical in many <br /> <br />areas. The means to acquire additional water must be identified, as well as <br /> <br />techniques to make optimum use of existing supplies if present requirements <br /> <br />are to be met and further economic growth is to be achieved, <br /> <br />l3 <br /> <br />