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. CHAPTER II SETTING Location The project would involve that reach of the Gunnison River from the city of Delta in Delta County, downstream to its confluence with the Colorado River at Grand Junction in Mesa County. Because any development along this stretch of the river would result in significant social and economic effects in both counties, the two-county area is termed the project area, and social and economic conditions are considered on countywide bases throughout this report. On the other hand, a number of environmental factors, including aesthetics, land use, and cultural re- source considerations, would be affected only in the Gunnison River Canyon or on nearby lands. Therefore, discussion of such factors is essentially restricted to this smaller area, termed the immediate project area, and is shown on the Frontispiece Map. . The Gunnison River Canyon where the project would be located is situated at an elevation of approximately 5,000 feet in a valley between the II,OOO-foot-high Grand Mesa on the northeast and the 9,800-foot-high Uncompahgre Plateau on the southwest. The two-county area is a center for western Colorado business firms and for energy development and accompanying service industries. It also is characterized by agricultural development, particularly livestock, feed crops, and fruit orchards. The area is scenic, attracting tourists and recreationists to the nearby Colorado National Monument and Uncom- pahgre and Grand Mesa National Forests. It is traversed east-west by Interstate Highway 70 and north-south by U.S. Highway 50. As discussed later in this chapter, the greatest concentration of population in the project area is in the Grand Valley of northwestern Mesa County. The Grand Valley parallels the Colorado River and includes the communities of Palisade, Clifton, Grand Junction, and Fruita. The confluence of the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers is on the south side of the valley. Natural Environmental Characteristics Land forms and geology . The project area outside the immediate Gunnison River Canyon is bounded by the Uncompahgre Plateau on the southwest and Grand Mesa and the Bookc1iffs to the northeast. The Gunnison River has eroded its channel along the edge of a geologic fold from Delta northward approxi- mately to its confluence with the Colorado River near Grand Junction, exposing thick sequences of primarily sedimentary and minimal metamorphic 6