Laserfiche WebLink
<br />With respect to the impacts of ,increased summertime convective <br />rainfall, fish and aquatic life will be affected to the extent <br />that the water level in lakes, ponds, and streams will rise. <br />This will result in both an increase in the extent of habitat <br />suitable for fish and aquatic life and the amount of food <br />production in this habitat (18). <br /> <br />2.3.4 Impacts on Vegetation. Weather modification's <br />impact on herbaceous vegetation inimost temperate agricultural <br />, <br />regions will be of the same type ~nd magnitude as would result <br />from an increase of a few percent in the natural precipitation. <br />Studies which provide information regarding these impacts <br />have been made at U. S. Agricultural ~esearch Service Exp~rimental <br />Stations in Arizona, Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and <br />Texas. These studies show a relation~hip of increased productivity <br />with increased growing-season rainfall. It can be concluded <br />that widespread or prolonged increases in precipitation from <br />weather modification will cause an increase in herbaceous <br />productivity and may cause a gradual change in the species <br />composition as would be found in ai wetter climate. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Results of a study on snowpack augmentation in the Uinta <br />Mountains of Utah suggest that a 10 percent increase in average <br />snowpack can be expected to retard the 75 percent snow-free <br />date from 0.7 to 1.5 days. That much additioOnal snow could <br />not be demonstrated to have any!significant effect on tree <br />growth or tree reproduction in eitper lodgepole pine or spruce- <br />fir forests. However, a 10 percept 'increase in snowpack would, <br />increase herb production about 4 percent over the composite <br />area (5). <br /> <br />A drastic shift in vegetational types in the plains area <br />is not expected. Cool season gr~sses will be favored by an <br /> <br />2-13 <br />