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River and no flooding would have occurred. The Green River dike <br />is in-place and can be clearly seen. The "wetland area" <br />contained no standing water at all and much bare soil is exposed. <br />There is .little water seen on the escarpment slopes where today <br />strong springs occur, thus the springs may have been intermittent <br />or not as strong as today. Definite grazing and pasture <br />utilization lines from fences can be seen on the bottoms <br />indicating differential use. There are many more cottonwoods on <br />the bottoms than exist today. There are also some shrubs, most <br />likely sandbar willow (Salix exictua), on the bottoms. Clearly, <br />the vegetation and hydrologic patterns observed in this <br />photograph are very different than occur today. We feel that <br />little open water wetland would have occurred at this time. <br />1952 (22 August). This was a high flow year for the Green <br />River. On the date of this photograph,-water levels in the <br />wetlands were very high, higher than we observed during 1993. By <br />1952 irrigated agriculture was well-developed on the terraces to <br />the east. The practice was to flood irrigate pastures using <br />water diverted from the Green River on the east side of the <br />terrace. The escarpment springs are flowing quite well in the <br />area south of the modern wetlands, which may be due to irrigated <br />fields in that area. The vegetation patterns observed at this <br />time indicate conditions similar to what occurs today. Thus, the <br />hydrologic regime of the existing wetlands may have been <br />established sometime between 1937 and 1952. <br />1961 (25 September). This was a low runoff year on the <br />Green River yet the water levels in the wetlands were similar to <br />what we observed on nearly this same date in 1993. Thus, <br />flooding in the wetlands does not appear dependant upon the Green <br />River, Irrigation practices appear to be flood irrigation and <br />the acreage irrigated has increased somewhat. <br />1969 (12 September). Green River flows during 1969 were <br />similar to those of 1961. The area of irrigated agriculture has <br />increased dramatically. There has been a significant decrease in <br />the number of cottonwood trees in the wetland area, most likely <br />due to drowning from sustained soil saturation. <br />1980 (27 June). Center pivot sprinklers have been installed <br />on the terrace, and we assume they were first used between 1976 <br />and 1979. Springs in the southern area have dried up perhaps <br />because of reduced application rates in small areas (sprinkler <br />vs. flood irrigation). By this time the cottonwood trees are <br />greatly reduced in the wetland area, and it attains the site <br />vegetation is very similar to today. Other vegetation changes <br />appear to be the spread of salt cedar in the area. In the Moab, <br />5 <br />