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<br />'..,"", <br />. :".'J <br />; "".'.., <br />........ <br /> <br />w <br />to.) <br />CJl <br />U\ <br /> <br />". <br /> <br />III. <br /> <br />WILDLIFE HABITAT MONITORING AND EVALUATION <br /> <br />SALINITY PROJECT AREA DESCRIPTION <br /> <br />The Lower Gunnison unit monitoring and evaluation area is <br /> <br />characterized by a dominance of irrigated cropland, pastureland <br />and hayland, interspersed with native rangeland on mesas, high <br />terraces and old alluvial deposits. Elevation ranges from 4500 <br />to 7000 feet, with average annual precipitation ranging from less <br />than 8 inches to over 12 inches. A diversity of small grain, <br /> <br />fruit, vegetable and forage crops are produced on the irrigated <br />fields. Irrigation water delivery systems (earthen ditches and <br />canals) are interspersed throughout the irrigated fields. Range <br />sites include salt flats, and clayey, silty, and loamy <br /> <br />saltdeserts. Plant species associated with these range sites <br />include black greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus), basin big <br /> <br />sagebush (Artemisia tridentata tridentata); shadscale (Atriplex <br />confertifolia), four-wing saltbush (A. canescens), Gardner <br /> <br />saltbush (A. gardneri), alkali sacaton (Sporobulus airoides), <br /> <br />basin wildrye (Elymus cinereus), saltgrass (Distichlis stricta), <br />galleta (Hilaria jamesii), Indian ricegrass (Oryzopsis <br /> <br />hymenoides), and bottlebrush squirreltail (Sitanion hystrix). <br />