Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />CHAPTER IV <br /> <br />DESCRIPTION OF AREA <br /> <br />Location <br /> <br />The Upper Colorado Resource Study area is located in northeastern <br />Utah and northwestern Colorado as shown on the General Map at the front <br />of this report. The area includes all of the White River Basin from the <br />headwaters of that stream in Colorado to its confluence with the Green <br />River in Utah. It includes all of the Yampa River Basin except for the <br />tributary Little Snake River and Vermillion Creek drainages. In Utah it <br />includes that portion of eastern Uintah County which lies between the <br />Green River and the Colorado-Utah State line. In Colorado it includes <br />essentially all of Rio Blanco County and portions of Moffat, Routt, and <br />Garfield Counties. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />There are eight incorporated and several unincorporated rural <br />comnlunities in the study area. The towns of 11eeker and Rangely are <br />located in Rio Blanco County along with the rural community of Buford. <br />Moffat County includes the city of Craig, the town of Dinosaur, and the <br />rural communities of Maybell, Elk Springs, Hamilton, and Axial. The <br />city of Steamboat Springs, the towns of Hayden, Yampa, and Oak Creek, <br />and the rural communities of Phippsburg and Milner are situated in the <br />Routt County portion of the study area. The only community directly <br />involved in Uintah County is Bonanza, an unincorporated permanent camp <br />belonging to American Gilsonite Company. The unincorporated communities <br />of Ouray and Jensen lie immediately across the Green River from the <br />study area. The nearest incorporated communities in the surrounding <br />region are Rifle, Colorado, to the south, Baggs, Wyoming, to the north, <br />and Vernal, Utah, to the west. The transportation system between these <br />communities and the outside world is discussed in the Social and Eco- <br />nomic Section of this chapter. <br /> <br />Physiography <br /> <br />Major structural features <br /> <br />The eastern edge of the study area lies along a stretch of the <br />Continental Divide formed by the Sierra Madre, Park, and Gore Ranges of <br />the Southern Rocky ~lountains. These ranges are composed of rugged <br />mountains, whose elevations are mostly between 8,000 and 10,000 feet, <br />with some peaks rising to over 12,000 feet. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />23 <br /> <br />