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<br /> <br />w <br />Q) <br />en <br />'" <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Forest. The forest land in the Upper Colorado River Basin is defined <br /> <br />by the forest vegetation which ranges from the spruce-fir forest at high <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />elevations through lodgepole pine, Douglas fir and quaking aspen to ponderosa <br /> <br />pine, mountain brush and finally to the pinyon-juniper foothill areas. All <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />forest areas have understory shrubs and grasses. The forest provides a <br /> <br />stable biotic community usually resistant to soil erosion. The Upper Colorado <br /> <br />River Basin has 27,381,000 acres of forest lands. Grazing and timber pro- <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />duction extend over the area.s of the Upper Basin forest (Figure III- 7). <br /> <br />Forests in the Lower Colorado River Ba.sin cover 29,997,000 acres of <br /> <br />land (Figure lII- 8). The forests reach from about l2, 000 feet in elevation . <br /> <br />down to about 4,000 feet in elevation. The vegetal species begin with <br /> <br />the spruce-fir forests above 8,500 feet, change to the Douglas fir and <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />ponderosa pine down to 5,500 feet, fade through the very small area of <br /> <br />bristlecone and limber pine to the pinyon- juniper and oak woodlands and <br /> <br />stop with the chaparral and mountainbrush at about 4,000 feet. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Important uses of the forest lands include grazing, timber, production, <br /> <br />fish. and wildlife habitat, and water shed areas. <br /> <br />Other uses occupy very <br /> <br />small areas as shown by Table.~ llI-2. <br />.' <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Energy resource development areas. The Colorado River Basin <br /> <br />must be regarded as a major national storehouse for energy. A brief <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />summary of the magnitude of the energy reserves within the basin is presented <br /> <br />. <br />in Table III-.3'. Figures showing the location and extent of these energy <br /> <br />reserves are contained in Appendix III-B. It may be observed that the" basin . <br /> <br />36 <br /> <br />