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..,.. L" ~ - ,-. ,- '- Existing Water and Related Land Resources Development The City of Cheyenne, Wyoming, has diverted an average of 7,400 acre-feet of water per year for the last 15 years from the North Fork Little Snake River basin to the Hogpark Reservoir in the North Platte River basin. Nearly all of these diversions occur during the spring runoff (April to July). 'Major existing diversion facilities to the Hogpark Reservoir include a diversion structure about 4 feet high, a diversion pipeline and a 3,000-foot-long tunnel through the Continental Divide. All diverted water is used by the City of Cheyenne which uses multiple-year storage reservoirs to assure the availability of its water supply. Expansion plans for this project are dis- cussed in chapter V. Since the early 1900's the Stillwater Ditch Company has operated the Egeria Creek transbasin diversion from the Bear River in the Upper Yampa River basin to Egeria Creek in the main-stem Colorado River basin via the Stillwater Ditch. The approximate annual export is 580 acre- feet. Agriculture Most of the basin land is used for agricultural production. Primary land uses are grazing (or a combination of timber and grazing) timber production, irrigated or dryland crop production, coal mining, and recreation. Sheep, cattle, wool, and winter wheat are the main exports. The irrigated cropland occupies less than 2 percent of the land area, but this cropland constitutes the economic heart of the farms and ranches in the basin. Almost all of the irrigated cropland is used for pasture or winter feed production for livestock. The land resource of the basin is generally better suited to livestock production than it is to cash crop production. This is largely due to climatic factors which limit crop production at higher elevations principally to hay or pasture. At lower elevations the growing season is long enough for production of small grains and corn. Dry cropland occupies about 3 percent of the total land area of the basin. Wheat is the most important dryland crop with non-irrigated hay the next most important crop. Approximately 85 percent of the land in the basin is used for grazing by do- mestic livestock and wildlife. Included in the timber and grazing lands are areas with predominately aspen cover or open forest stands which provide good grazing. Grazing is permitted on 18,000 acres of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, Routt National Forest, and approximately 82,200 acres of Dinosaur National Monument. These lands also provide wildlife habitat and recreational areas. Commercial timberland occupies about 6 percent (349,900 acres) of the basin. Electric Utility Service and Coordination Retail electric service in the Yampa River basin is primarily provided by the Yampa Valley Electric Association (YAVE), with a small area in the southcentral part of the basin serviced by the White River Electric Asso- ciation (WREA). These two associations and eleven other electric distri- bution cooperative associations form the Colorado Ute Electric Association, Inc., which is an incorporated generation and transmission cooperative 13