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<br />7 <br /> <br />8 <br /> <br />STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION <br /> <br />TABLE 1 <br />DRAINAGE BASIN AREAS <br />(S~uar" Mi Ie,) <br /> <br />Drainag"e<1sinCharacteristic, <br />The RQ~ring Fork River contributes more water to the Colorado River <br />than ilny other stceam in Colorado except for the GunnTson River. Th"I,500 <br />square mil" bdsin yields an 'lYerage of almost 1,000,000 'Kre-feet per year. <br />Qf lhis amount, dbolJt 8 percent is currently being diverted totheca,tern <br />:; lo~". Major (,ibutd'; eS to the ROdring Fork are the Crysta I and Fryingpan <br />Rivers, both of which enter the Roaring Fork below the area descri bed in <br />th;, report. Over 75 percent of the land in (he basin is owned by the <br />Burc<luof Land Man"g"rrlen! or the Foresl Service. Most of the private land <br />is loc,ned along the major streams where the floodin~ potential i5 the <br />higheH (Reference 10, II). <br />The headwaters of the Roaring Fork River start IntheSa...atchMGuntain <br />Ran~e ab"ve l~ ,000 fecI and about 15 O1i Ie, east of tI,,, Ci ty of Aspen. From <br />the headwaters the ,t rea", drops ~.500 feet in about 20 'T1; les to the Ci ty <br />of Aspen, illlOut16percentnflh,'tntill RnaringForkb".in i. located <br />"bov,' A,pen. Near A'p~n, "'djUr tri butari.., join the Roari ng Fork whi ch <br />includo II.Hoon Creek, Castle Creek, and Hemlcr Creek. (See Plote 1) <br />Thi, floodplajnstudybeginsal the Red 6utte Road BridGcabovc thc <br />con f I u<.'nce wit h ~\d roon Cree k an d I h e ROJ r i n 9 Fork, Fro", t his po i n t. the <br />ROdri ng Fork flows at an average 9rdd~ of 1.2 percent for 17 mi ie, to <br />Basalt where thc Fryingpan River enters the Roaring Fork and where the <br />,tudyends at the Pitkin County line, At this point, 35 pcrccnt of the <br />total Roaring Fork b,1Sin hn, been coll"'ct~d. Table I gi v~. the appro~imHe <br />b".inareil,abnve the Fryingpan River <;onflucncc. Below the Fryin'Jp"n, <br />the Ronring Fork flows 24 mi Ie, to GI~nwn()d Spring, wherQ it enters the <br />Co i O",dO Ri '1C r. The on I y m.Jj Or tri bU~.lr\' in th i. reach i, the C rys tal <br />Ri .er whi ch j"in, the ROdri ng F"r~ at th~ i<,lWn "r C~rbonda Ie. (Reference 2, <br /> <br />Area <br />{Sq. Milc,) <br /> <br />Reac~ <br /> <br />Fro... <br /> <br />To <br /> <br />63 <br /> <br />lIaro<>nCreek <br /> <br />Above Roaring Fork <br />AbovcMaroonCreek <br /> <br />23C <br /> <br />, <br />) <br />, <br />5 <br /> <br />Belov,Cilstl.,Creek <br /> <br />Bolow Maroon Creek <br /> <br />Above Woody Creek <br />Abovc Snowmass Creek <br />Above Fryingpan River <br /> <br />)Q <br />'" <br />90 <br /> <br />BeiowWoodyCreek <br /> <br />BeiowSnowrnclss <br /> <br />In 1965, the Colorado Water Conservation Board estimated thallhere <br />"",~I d be river 800.000 fl,herrran days on the Ro~rl ng Fork in tne year 2,000. <br />Besides fisner"~n. bOvt~n vre expectcd to use the Roaring Fork on an in- <br />cre~,,,d frequcn.;;y. (Refcrence 4) <br />Prec i p I tat i 0f1 va r i es vi i del y th roughout ~he Roa ring Fo rk bas i n ~D"ve <br />Basillt. On th~. Continent,,1 Divide, near Independen<;e PaH, ~!w averag~ <br />~nnucll precip i tat ion is 2 (,.3 i nche, wit h I 7.5 i nc he S occu r ring <br />during the winter rr<>nth, (November. Arri I). ~"dr Bd,a It. the ,wf;rage <br />dr"'u,,1 I'rccipi Idt ion is aPPro~imalely 1(,.5 i nche, wi th 7.3 i "che~ ,,<;curring <br />dur, ng tho '...i oter moc,tt':, (Refercl"cc 7). Catd on p.-,,~I v. tatl ur> f,.,",;. tl.~ <br />fhtion<l) Oce"nle _,n<1 Atmo'rhcric Adn,inl~tr"tlon Indicates that in the <br />A,pen area, the 100+ye~r 2~-hour 'torm wuuld produce 2.6 inch~,. <br />T~fllp~"'turf; and precip i tat ion vari e, gre~t I y from locatio" te loc~t ion <br />.1nd sea.or. tn ~e,lSDn wi t h i n the dra i nclge ba~ i n .,,,d are I rnportan t var i ab I es <br />I" f 10Qdi ~g ~ondi t iuns. I,Dove-noro'al 'pr in!! t~mperature', can ~au.e early <br />dnd heavy flooding on th~ ~o",ring Fork. T"" A'p~n weather s~ation i~ the <br />o'\ly offidal weather ~tJtion in thc 'tudy b.1Sin. Il.ecords from the Aspen <br />we~ ~her , td l i <.>n i nd i c,;le th...t thc mCiln month) y hi qh occurs in ju I y and i, <br />(,1.8dcgrcesFnll'enh,-it. Themcclnn\Onthlylowof20.1 degr'eesFahrenhcit <br />occu", in J~nudry (Rdeeence 7). <br /> <br />4}. <br /> <br />3cs idc, be ing important ~e"gr_;pr.i c fc;,tUF"S of t<1e Criunty. ,[rCdroo and <br />"vers "'" i"'port~nt In the b,,, ie ~co"nmy of Pi t~i ~ Coun tv. The ",a.iori ty <br />of the r~, ident, in Pi tk i n County live ....i tI,l n ~ f~,",' t,~ouSdnd feet of major <br /> <br />str.~d"" . <br /> <br />C.xnulalive <br />Area <br /> <br />'3' <br />300 <br />"'0 <br />510 <br />