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<br /> <br />. <br /> <br />CHAPTER III <br /> <br />BASES FOR ANALYSES <br /> <br />Project Lands <br /> <br />Lffild classification <br /> <br />Lands in the Ba.salt Project area were classified as to their rela- <br />tive suitability for irrigation by a detailed land classification survey <br />conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1967 and 1968. A total of <br />56,560 acres of land was covered by the survey. Of this total, 17,310 <br />acres were determined to be arable and suitable for irrigation. The re- <br />maining 39,250 acres were designated as nonarable. <br /> <br />Of the 17,310 acres of arable land, a maximum of 7,520 acres is con- <br />sidered irrigable or serviceable by project development. The remaining <br />9,790 acres would be excessively costly to serve as they are in small, <br />isolated parcels that would necessitate expensive high pressure siphons <br />or high lift pumps. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The 7,520 acres of irrigable lands are north of the Roaring Fork <br />River. They include 4,660 acres that are presently irrigated and 2,860 <br />acres that are nonirrigated. Of the nonirrigated land, 2,330 acres are <br />presently cultivated and only 530 acres have native cover. All of the <br />lands considered irrigable are in classes 2, 3, and 3M. Class 2 lands <br />are well suited to irrigation farming and could produce any of the crops <br />climatically adapted to the area. Class 3 lands are somewhat less suit- <br />able for irrigation because of their location on steeper slopes. Class <br />3M lands are of marginal sui tabili ty and are best suited for meadow for- <br />age production. <br /> <br />The acreages of arable and irrigable land are summarized in the <br />table on the following page. The lands classified are shown on the map <br />on page 20. <br /> <br />Land ownership <br /> <br />All of the irrigable lands are privately owned except 10 acres in <br />scattered Federal tracts. <br /> <br />Land characteristics <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />All of the irrigable lands lie north of Roaring Fork and about 1,000 <br />feet above the river valley at elevations of about 6,900 to 7,400 feet. <br />These lands have been formed from the numerous basaltic lava flows that <br />settled on collapsed caverns in the gypsum beds of the Paradox formation. <br />Their formation resulted in the structural trough of Spring Valley and <br />the benches that slope generally toward the river to the south. These <br />benches are divided into two areas by Cattle Creek which flows from east <br />to west. The surface has been heavily eroded into many small individual <br />U-shaped valleys set below steep to gently sloping sidehills separated <br />by rocky ridges. Soils in the area are generally alluvial, derived from <br /> <br />18 <br />