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<br />OOJOll <br /> <br />SUMMARY AND REXXM1ENDATIONS <br /> <br />Purpose <br /> <br />The purpose of this study is to assess procedures ,and estimate <br />costs of removing snow from county highways in the mountains and on the <br />Western Slope of Colorado. The study, conducted by the Weather <br />Modification Program of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, was <br />undertaken because commissioners and citizens of some Colorado counties <br />have expressed concern that weather modification increases costs of <br />removing snow. <br /> <br />Procedure <br /> <br />Selection of Counties. <br /> <br />Eight mountain and Western Slope counties were selected for study. <br />Eagle, Lake and Routt in northern and central Colorado and La Plata, <br />Ouray and San JIlan in southwest Colorado were chosen because their <br />residents have expressed interest in or concern about weather <br />modification. Garfield and Rio Blanco, on the Western SlOpe, were chosen <br />because they are in the- area where a cloud seeding project to increase <br />the flow of the Colorado River has been proposed by the Bureau of <br />Reclamation. <br /> <br />Assessment of Available Data. <br /> <br />Quantifying county expenditures for snow removal requires detailed <br />infoanation about labor, such as the number of hours each employee spends <br />removing snow and performing related duties; capital expendi tures <br />inclUding the purchase price, depreciation and maintenance costs of <br />equipment; and the cost of materials like cinder and chains. Since most <br />counties do not keep detailed records of these expenses, we estimate them <br />with a computer simulation model. <br /> <br />vi <br />