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<br />000018 <br /> <br />PROCEDURE <br /> <br />Selection of Counties <br /> <br />Eight mountain and Western Slope counties in Colorado were <br />selected for study. Eagle, Lake and Routt in northern am central <br />Colorado and La Plata, Ouray and San Juan in southwest Colorado were <br />chosen because their residents have expressed interest in or con::ern <br />about weather lOOdification. Garfield and Rio Blanco, on the Western <br />Slope, were chosen because they are in the area where a cloud seeding <br />project to in::rease the flow of the Colorado River has been proposed by <br />the Bureau of Reclamation. <br /> <br />The counties chosen vary considerably in size. Garfield and Rio <br />Blanco, the largest, contain approximately 3,000 square miles; Lake and <br />San Juan, thE! smallest, contain approximately 500 square miles. Miles <br />of highway maintained in the winter range from about 15 in San Juan <br />County to approxiJ!1Cltely 900 in Rio Blanco County. All counties studied <br />contain high mountains with peaks of at least 11,500 feet and, except <br />for Lake and SanJuan, also relatively low, flat areas. For exanple, <br />the northern half of La Plata County is mountainous but the southern <br />half lies in the basin south and west of the San Juan M:>untains. <br />variation of terrain within the counties makes it difficult to group <br />them by elevation or topography--characteristics which may be related to <br />snow rem:>val procedures and costs. <br /> <br />Although these counties were not selected randomly, we have no <br />reason to believe that snow removal costs and procedures differ greatly <br />in Colorado mountain and Western Slope counties not selected. <br /> <br />-5- <br />