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<br />FINAL REPORT, November 2003 <br />High-jlow Requirements for the Duchesne River <br /> <br />1999). A USGS gaging station immediately downstream from the Duchesne River -Uinta River <br />confluence, Duchesne River near Randlett (USGS station number 09302000), provides a <br />continuous record of stream flow dating to 1943. Mean annual flow at the gage is 558 fels and <br />the mean annual peak flow is approximately 4,310 fe Is for the period 1943 to 2000. The <br />maximum recorded instantaneous peak discharge was 11,500 fe/s, and occurred on June 20, <br />1983. Although no significant tributaries enter the Duchesne River downstream from the gage, <br />irrigation diversions and return flow ditches are present in this segment of the river. <br />The lower Duchesne River valley is approximately 2 km wide and is bounded on either <br />side by gravel-capped bluffs in excess of 100 m in height. The relatively flat valley floor <br />contains three distinct terrace surfaces, some of which functioned as active floodplains within <br />historical time, as indicated by extant vegetation, early aerial photography, and early cadastral <br />surveys. Through much of the study area, the valley bottom is best described as a wandering <br />gravel-bed river floodplain (order B2), using the classification system of Nan son and Croke <br />(1992). The active floodplain, which now occupies less than a quarter of the full valley width, is <br />composed primarily of sandy scroll bar platforms with areas of dense vegetation farther from the <br />main channel. Chute channels commonly define the boundary between the bars and vegetated <br />floodplain surfaces. Numerous abandoned channels and swales are present on the floodplain, as <br />well as on the lower terrace levels. Riparian vegetation consists primarily of dense tamarisk <br />thickets (Tamarix spp.), russian-olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), and young cottonwood (Populus <br />spp.). The lower terrace levels contain decadent cottonwood galleries mixed with sagebrush <br />(Artemesia spp.), rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus), squaw bush (Rhus trilobata), and <br />greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus). The river has a meandering planform, a mixed bed of <br />cobbles, gravel, and sand, with an average gradient of about 0.0019. This general morphology <br />extends through the upstream portion of the study area to approximately river km 9, where the <br />channel slope abruptly decreases to less than 0.0003, bed material changes to sand, and channel <br />form assumes a narrow canal-like geometry oflow sinuosity. The floodplain in this downstream <br />portion of the study area is a comparatively featureless plain dominated by expansive tamarisk <br />thickets. It is best described as either a lateral migrationlbackswamp floodplain (order B3c) or a <br />laterally stable, single-channel floodplain (order C I). <br />Three reaches within the study segment were selected for detailed geomorphic study and <br />hydraulic modeling. These are the 24-hour Camp reach, the Above Pipeline reach, and the <br /> <br />6 <br />