WMOD00314

• Project Name: Uintah Ecology Project
• Title: Potential Ecological Impacts of Snowpack Augmentation in the Uintah Mountains, Utah
• Date: 4/20/1981
• State: UT
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

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PROJECT HISTORY
Early in 1976, the Utah Division of Water Resources entered into a

contract with the Bureau of Reclamation (now The Water and Power Re-

sources Service). The purpose of that contract was to provide infor-

mation for an environmental impact statement for winter cloud seeding to

augment snowpack in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The contract also

called for formulation and testing of hypotheses related to the poten-

tial impact of increased snowpack on regional vegetation. The con-
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tractor was also to recommend monitoring procedures for long-term cloud

seeding research in the Upper Colorado River Basin with particular

emphasis on the Uinta Mountains of Utah. On May 1, 1976, the Utah

Division of Water Resources formalized a subcontract with K. T. Harper

of Brigham Young University.
Earlier research programs funded by the Service concentrated on the

potential impact of winter snow augmentation in the Medicine Bow Moun-

tains of southeastern Wyoming and the San Juan Mountains of southwestern

Colorado. The results of those ~tudies have been reported by Knight et

al. (1975) and Steinhoff and Ives (1976). The work done by Brigham

Young University has focused on the northern slope of the Uinta Moun-

tains, northeastern Utah. The relationship of late lying snow to the

plant cover of four major ecosystem was studied during the snow melt and

growing seasons of the years 1976-79. Also, the distribution patterns

of precipitation in the Uintas and the relationship of snowpack to

runoff in nine major watersheds were analyzed.

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