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<br />HYDROLOGY <br /> <br />Watershed Descriptio~ <br /> <br />This is a discussio~ of the hydrology for the Spri~g Creek <br />Watershed. The drai~age i~cludes Spri~g Creek above the <br />tow~ of Pierce Colorado i~cludi~g a~ East Tributary that <br />f I e,ws th,.ough Nu~~ the~ fo I lows a I o~g the West side of <br />Highway 85 to a highway bridge ~ear Pierce. <br /> <br />The Spri~g Creek Watershed is located i~ Larimer a~d Weld <br />Counties, Colorado and Laramie County, Wyoming. The towns <br />of Nunn (population 295) and Pierce (population 878) are <br />withi~ the watershed bou~dry. Greeley (Population 53600) is <br />located abe,ut 15 mi I es southeast of the I owe,. e~d e,f the <br />watet.shed. <br /> <br />There are 30,685 acres of non-irrigated cropland, 102 acres <br />of irrigated cropland, 25,398 acres of range, and 800 acres <br />of other miscelaneous land for a total of 56,985 acres in <br />the watet"shed. <br /> <br />The climate is semi-a,.id. Ternpet-atu,-es t.a~ge f,-om less than <br />-20 to more than 100 degrees F. The frost-free period in <br />the cropla~d area averages about 148 days (May 5 - Sept. <br />30). Average a~nual precipitation is 14 i~ches with 80% <br />fa I I i ~g betwee~ Apt- i I a~d Septembe,-. The ave,-age w i ~ter <br />s~e'w fall is 40 i~ches. DUt-i~g the summe,-, high i~te~sity <br />I (Ie a f i zed c loulj but.sts are C ornrnClrl. <br /> <br />The elevation over the watershed ranges from 5050 ft to 6350 <br />ft above mea~ sea level. The topography ranges from roll i~g <br />ra~gela~d i~ the upper portio~ to ~early level cropla~d in <br />the lower portio~. Spri~g Creek is tributary to Lo~e Tree <br />Creek which is tributary to the South Platte RJver. <br /> <br />The soils we,-e developed u~de'- p,-ait-ie grassla~d ce,~ditio~s. <br />They are wel I-drai~ed clay loams a~d sa~dy loams, highly <br />pt-(tductive, and wi II t-espond to management. The bedrock <br />fonnat i o~s wh i eh u~de,-I i e the watet-shed i ~c I ude the Lat-ami e <br />Formation of Cretaceous geologic age and the White River <br />Formatio~ of Tertiary age. These formatio~s are mostly <br />covered with dep(lsits of younger- unconscll idated roatet-ials. <br />Exte~sive alluvial deposits cover the val ley bottoms alo~g <br />Spt-j~g Ct-eek. <br /> <br />Flood Hi stOt-y <br /> <br />Spri~g Creek floods to some exte~t occur o~ a freque~cy of <br />every two to three years. These floods are the result of <br />thu~derstorms of high i~tensity which are ce~tered above <br />