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<br />! <br />, <br />. <br />I <br /> <br />Description <br /> <br />OOXELDER CREEK WATERSHED <br />DESCRIPTION OF TIlE WATERSHED <br /> <br />The Boxelcler Creek Watershed is located in parts of Larimer and Weld <br />Counties, Colorado and in Albany and Laramie Counties, Wyaning. The <br />watershed is abOUt 32 miles in length and averages about S miles in <br />width and consists of Boxelder Creek, a flowing stream, heading in the <br />northwestern part of the watershed in Wyoming, flows southeasterly into <br />Colorado (29.9 square miles) and is joined from the north by Sand Creek, <br />an intermittent stream, which also heads in Wy(ll\ing (21.5 square miles]. <br />Jlaxelder Creek is OCM an intennitt:""ntly flnw;ng ~trt!am becal!Se~.everal <br />-.i_rrigatien-d.Urersions Geolete the nannal stream n(M. To the east, <br />Rawhide Creek, a nonnally dry stream, heads 1n t.:o!oflido and flows south <br />joining Boxelder Creek (42 square miles). Coal CreeK, a normally dry <br />stream, heads in Wycming, flows easterly and then south through the <br />eastern part of Wellington, Colorado and joins Boxelder Creek about a <br />mile south of Wellington (60.4 square miles). Indian Creek, a normally <br />dry stream until it gets <bm into the irrigated land, heads on the <br />eastern side in Colorado flOl<iing south and joining BoxelderCreekabout <br />2 miles south of Wellington, Colorado (33.7 square miles). The COlmlOll <br />alluvial flood plain ~ontinues south to its confluence with the Cache In <br />Poudre River about 3 miles southeast of Fort Collins, Colorado at lati- <br />tude 40Q 32' 30" :-Iorth and longitude l05Q 00' West. The Cache III POlldre <br />is tributary to the South Platte River in north central Colorado. The <br />tOl{Jl of \\'ellington and t."e coomunities of Buckeye and~.averly are with- <br />in tll" wat"rsh\!u boundary. o,eyenne, Wyoming is about 14 miles north- <br />east of the watershed. TIle watershed contains 160,640 a,res or 251 s~uare <br />mi.1es... whidl is mostly grassland in the upper and eastern part ana un- <br />gated ,ropland and mis~ellaneous uses in the middle and lower portions. <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />, <br /> <br />Geologi, formations exposed within the watershed consist of rocks and <br />sediments ranging fran Precambrian to Quaternary in age. The Pre,am- <br />brian rocks, consisting of granite with sane schists and gneisses, are <br />exposed along the extreme western to northwestern portions of the area. <br />Sedimentary roc::ks, which underlie the remainder of the watershed to the <br />east, range in age frem Pennsylvanian to Tertiary. The Pennsylvanian <br />to La..rer Cretal:eous ro,ks are a series of sandstones, siltstones, shales, <br />and limestones whicll have an average dip to the east of about 15 degrees <br />fnn horizontal and fonn the praninent ridges and narrow valleys char- <br />acteristic of the western portion of the watershed. The eastern part <br />of the watershed is underlain by soft shales with sane thin sandstone <br />and limestone beds of Upper Cretaceous age. The Tertiary rocks crop <br />out in the extreme north to northeastern portion of the area and con- <br />sist of tuffaceous siltstone of Oligocene age and weakly cemented sand <br />and gravel of Mioc::ene and Pliol:ene age. These rocks are essentially <br />horizontal. <br /> <br />PHYSICAL DATA <br /> <br />l.oc;ation and Size <br /> <br />Soils <br /> <br />Physiography and Geology <br />The watershed lies wi thin the COlorado Piedmont se~tion of the Great <br />Plains physiographi, province. Altitudes range froo about 1, no feet <br />at the northern end of the watershed in Wyoming to 4,860 feet at the <br />lower end where Boxelder Creek joins the Cache la I'oudre RiVer. i11e <br />upper part of the waterShed ,onsists of a small area of broadly rolling <br />plateaus, belOof which is an area of hogback ridges and narrow mesas <br />formed by resistant sandstone and limestone layers and interspersed with <br />narrow valleys and canyons. To the east and south of these ridges and <br />mesas is an extensive area of rolling plains underlain mainly by rela. <br />tively soft shales. The flatter portions of this plains area contains <br />most of the irrigated and non-irrigated ,ropland. <br /> <br />Soils in the watershed are quite variable but may be divided into four <br />areas. The first area would include the shallow to !IlOderately deep <br />soils developed on the granites of the northwest portion of the water- <br />shed. The western portion is characterized by a ~eries of steep ridges, <br />'liffs and narrow valleys in sandstone, shale and limestone bedrock. <br />East facing soils are shallow with many rock exposures, west facing <br />slopes are of very steep rocky, colluvial soils with deep alluvial soils <br />in the valleys. Moderately deep gravelly soils on small plateau or mesa <br />like areas make up IlIOSt of the area in the northeast. Soils of the irri- <br />gated land are dominantly deep or lllOderately deep l?= over shales, <br />sandstone or gravels. The larger drainages are domInantly alluvial soils <br />of loam to clay loam in texture. <br />A soil survey for Larimer County is being made and is scheduled for ,an. <br />pletion of field mapping in 1912. <br />Cover Condition <br /> <br />The natural plant ,over on the rangelands of the watershed consists of <br />mixed grassland and shrub plant ccmmuni ties. Occasional s,attered <br />ponderosa pine and Rocky Mountain juniper indicate dimati~ conditions <br />of the mountains and upper foothills of northern Colorado. <br />Because the soils range fran the shallow, fine textured and poorly <br />developed, through the gravelly, to the deep and well developed, there <br />is a wide variety in the plant spedes growing in the plant camnmities. <br />Conditions for plant growth favor produ,tive stands of western wheat- <br />grass, green needlegrass and blue grama on the deep, loamy range soils. <br />This cover condition Il'.akes up the largest kind of ~over in the water- <br />shed. It is <!escribed as the Loamy Foothills range site. Presentrange <br /> <br />-1- <br /> <br />.2. <br />