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C'.J C"? ~ -I CHAPTER IV COMPREHENSIVE D1~ELOPMENT water, however, is in excess of ideal requirements and is applied to the lands in the heavy runoff periods of May and June. With late-season wa- ter available with project operation, the water users would be expected to make some curtailments in their excessive diversions in order to ob- tain improvements in crop varieties and yields. The increased water supply from the proJect would include about 69,500 acre-feet of storage releases and increased direct flow diversions and 37,400 acre-feet of return flow from project operation. Return flows would be usable only in the East River and Taylor divisions. Project water supplies wel~ estimated from simulated project opera- tions made on a monthly basis for the 12-year period 1950 to 1961. This period is considered to be a conservative base for the studies as it in- cludes two critically dry cycles. Agricultural production No basic change in the type of Basin would be expected with project farming in the Upper Gunnison River development. Substantial new crop production would be realized on full service lands, however, and yields would be increased on supplemental service ~ands. The increased production would result in a significant expan- sion and stabilization of the livestock industry. Tall grass yields in project area. 22 Per acre yields of meadow or grass hay are expected to average about 2 tons with the project compared with yields on presently irrigated lands of about 1.4 tons. Per acre yields on irrigated pasture are expected to amount to about 4.5 animal unit months compared with a present avarage yield of 3 animal unit months. Residue yields on meadow land used for spring and fall grazing after hay production are expected to increase to about 1.1 animal unit months per acre with the project from about 0.8 animal unit month without project de- velopment.