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r-- Lr') ~ ~'"' The area of national forest-commercial timber land, accessable enough to be operable, is estimated at 214,000 acres. At present, the small amount of timber being cut in the North Fork subbasin is sold entirely on the local market. The subbasin lands have an estimated one billion board-feet of timber growing on them. Much forest land in this unit should be planted to commercial tree to provide a more useful and productive cover. Foresters estimate nearly 50,000 acres within the subbasin should be reforested. .' spec~"s that This subbasin has little of the alpine zone which includes alpine meadow vegetation and snow fields. There are some raw rock peaks which collect heavy snow and shed practically all as water. The vegetation varies with elevation, starting with the highest Engleman spruce and alpine fir, and continuing down through ponderosa pine, aspen, oakbrush, sagebrush to desert shrub and grasses. Sagebrush, in combination with grass, is scattered through the open areas up into the ponderosa pine-oakbrush zone. Aspen is quite extensive in this subbasin. The cover density is described as poor to fair over most of the area and poor in the desert shrub zone. Phreatophytes such as cottonwood and willows along ditches and in the irrigated lands amount to about 7,100 acres. Water could be put to a more profitable use by controlling phreatophytes. Sediment yields within this subbasin are high. There are many raw shale slide areas in the Wasatch formations above the pinyon-juniper zone. Most of these slides are above the Paonia Reservoir, which will trap the sediment before it gets into the North Fork or the main Gunnison River. Runoff from other drainages carry little sediment from the high elevations. Sediment will be quite heavy from the pinyon-juniper and desert shrub zones. These stream loads will result from spring runoff, sheet and gully erosion. Recreation The Grand Mesa area, wi'th many lakes nestling in the cool, green forests of spruce and fir timber, is a popular and heavily used recreation area; partic- ularly for fishing, family camping and picnicking. There are many summer cabins and resorts on Grand Mesa which are filled during the summertime with visitors spending their weekends and vacation periods. The Forest Service has' developed many recreation sites for camping and picnicking which are usually filled. Additional sites are being developed and more are planned to meet future demands. Hunting in the fall, and skiing in the winter, add sub- stantially to recreation use. It is anticipated that the Paonia Reservoir will attract many visitors for camping, picnicking, boating, and fishing. Some of this increased recreational use will probably extend to adjacent national fore~t lands. As in the other subbasins, the trend for outdoor recreation use is upward. Current use is estimated at 580,000 man-days annually, and is expected to increase five ti~es by the year 2000. Water development in the subbasin should complement plans for increase in water-oriented recreation use. - 56 -