7905

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7905
• Author: U.S. Department of the Interior.
• Title: Quality of Water, Colorado River Basin.
• USFW Year: 1995.
• USFW - Doc Type: Progress Report No. 17,
• Copyright Material: NO

Fortunately, the Utah Interagency Rangeland Salinity Control Project, which
contributed significantly to the above tiered set of rangeland salinity control
evaluation procedures, was very farsighted in incorporating most of these ecosystem
management cornerstones into their six tiers. Thus, BLM's rangeland salinity control
planning and implementation has had several years heads tart at working with its own
new self-imposed procedures in a more collaborative-interagency fashion, using
interdisciplinary teams for holistic watershed solutions that reduce salt while
improving ecosystem values.

The strategy which BLM continues to support is to provide the best management of
the basic resource base. Successes with the resource base will translate to improved
vegetation cover, better use of onsite precipitation, and stronger plant root systems.
In turn, a more stable runoff regime and reduced soil loss should result, thus
benefiting water quality of the Colorado River.

Nonpoint Source Control-Controlling salinity in rangeland surface runoff is closely
related to controlling soil erosion. Vegetation cover is usually the most important
management variable influencing runoff and erosion rates on rangelands. On
systematically targeted watersheds, the payoff for salinity is that decreased sediment
yields and moderated floodflow energies should combine to transport less salt from the
uplands, as well as from gullies and established channels.

Vegetation management, either indirectly through the design and implementation of
livestock grazing plans or directly through vegetation manipulation, is an important
erosion and salinity control technique. Proper land use-including the objectives of
grazing systems that incorporate increased cover, appropriate seasons of use, and
riparian protection-is a preferred salinity reduction technique, as is minimizing
activities that disturb the surface. However, on the most highly saline sites,
maximum potential plant cover is usually inadequate to provide leverage for
significant control of surface runoff, erosion, and associated salt production.

In situations where watershed condition (health) is so severely degraded that recovery
will be ineffective under normal land management practices, mechanical land
treatments and structural alternatives may be the only physically effective salinity
control options. Land treatments involve soil tillage techniques such as contour
furrowing, ripping, and rangeland pitting. Structural features include rangeland
dikes, retention and gully plugs, and retention and detention reservoirs.

Soil-vegetation ecological site surveys continue to be an important baseline
information source in order to understand from where, and by what processes, salts
are transported to surface or ground water. Watershed rankings have been completed
in Colorado and Utah, are underway in Wyoming and Arizona, and are planned in
Nevada and New Mexico.

Point Source Control-Many point sources of saline water exist on the public lands
as either wells or springs. These sources continue to be identified and controlled as
the situation warrants and funding allows. Close cooperation with the State is
required for plugging of orphaned wells. Unlined reserve pits associated with oil and
gas development are also reviewed for closure approval and closed when appropriate,
thus controlling saline produced water.

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