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' <br />' History of the Area <br />develop:nent of coal and timber resources and also enhanced the <br />value of the livestock industry. For a time a considerable <br />' amount of summer garden crops such as lettuce, potatoes and <br />other vegetables were exported from the area, but the large <br />' scale development of the industry in the Southwest has forced <br />its discontinuance in the Yampa Valley. The area has now <br />' reverted primarily to production of livestock and hay which are <br />transported to market primarily by trucks. Large numbers of <br />' sheep are grazed on the hills surrounding the valley durinq the <br />summer and are transported by truck to lower elevations for <br />wintering. <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />1 <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />' <br />An extensive distribution system is in existence in the <br />project area consisting of numerous individual or jointly owned <br />ditches diverting water from the Yampa River and its tributaries. <br />The major ditches are shown on Figure 2. All of these ditches <br />have decrees for direct flow diversion, with the earliest decrees <br />dating back to the 1880's. A list of the ditches, the amount of <br />their decree and acres irrigated is given in Table 11. All these <br />ditches are maintained and repaired by the individual owners. In <br />recent years the U. S. Soil Conservation Service has provided <br />assistance in the rehabilitation of a number of these ditches. <br />Lancl Use <br />Irrigation practice is typical of mountainous areas where <br />most of the water supply comes from snow-fed streams with only <br />nominal storage regulation. The unit drainages are better than <br />average producers of runoff because of their relatively high <br />mean elevation and the excellent quality of the protective cover <br />for the snow pack. This has led to a better balanced summer <br />runoff than in many areas, but the benefit of such a runoff <br />has been mainly to the holders of the senior rights. Other water <br />users in the area generally suffer serious shortaqes after the <br />spring flood has passed. <br />III - 3 <br />i <br />� <br />