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Watershed Resources - Environmental Setting Physical Data The Sedgwick-Sand Draws Watershed is located in the southeast corner of Cheyenne County and the southwest corner of Deuel County, Nebraska and in the north central part of Sedgwick County in northeastern Colorado at latitude 41" 00'. and longitude 1020 30'. The watershed contains approximately 66,714 acres (J04.2,square miles) of which. 11,000 acres 07.2 square miles) are in Cheyenne and 24,005 acres (37.5 square miles) are in Deuel County, Nebraska and 31,709 acres (49.5 square miles) are in Sedgwick County, Colorado. The following.towns with their 1970 populations are within the watershed boundaries: Sedgwick, Colorado (population 208) and Ovid, Colorado (population 463). Towns near the watershed include: Julesburg, Colorado (population 1,578), the county seat of Sedgwick County located eight mi les east of the watershed; Chappell, Nebraska (populat ion 1,204), the county seat .ofDeuel County located five mi les north of the watershed; Sidney, Nebraska (population 6,403),the county seat of Cheyenne County located 18 miles northwest of the watershed; and Sterling, Colorado (population 10,636), located 50 miles southwest. of the watershed.. The closest metropolitan area is Denver. Colorado, located 175 miles south- west of the watershed. The wat.ershed is in the South Platte River subregion of the Missouri .-wate'r-R-esource-c-Reg+on-as--de++neated-by-the-Woter-Resources--€ounc-H.---fhe- area is described as Central High Tablelands comprised of relatively flat land draining into the Platte and Republican River Drainages. The watershed area is typical of the water.resource region. The upper part of the watershed consists mainly of a flat to gently undulating plain that is dissected towards its southern margins in Nebraska by numerous small, ephemeral watercourses drainin9 southeast- ward to the tributary drainages in Colorado, the largest of which are Sedgwick Draw and Sand Draw. These drainages coalesce at their lower ends into a broad alluvial plain bordering the north sides of the flood plain of the South Platte River. Two of these tributary drainages originate in Nebraska and flow eastward into Lodgepole Creek which, in turn, flows southward into Colorado and enters the South Platte River southeast of Ovid, Colorado. Damage from floodwater, erosion, and sediment runoff caused by high intensity, short duration summer thunderstorms is the major problem in the watershed. Runoff from the upper watershed does not follow natural courses to the river because of irrigation canals, roads, farms, and the Union Pacific Railroad constructed across the drainages. The problem areas are primarily in the middle and lower parts of the watershed paralleling the South Platte River. 6