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<br />--. .-. .-:.~-,.-~... <br />.. '.. . ,..:... . <br /> <br /> <br />averages approximately 14 inches annually (~SDA, 1941). About <br />75 percent of the annual total precipitation falls in the months <br />of Harch through September. Most of this comes from t!lunderstorms <br />varying greatly in amount of rainfall from storm to storm and from <br />place to place. The average length of the ~owing season for the <br />valley is 165 days. <br /> <br />The woody vegetation of the flood plain is compose,] chiefly of <br />salt cedar (Tamarix ramosissima), cottonwood (Populus sargenti), <br />willow (Salix ~.) and Russian Olive (Eleagnus angustifolia).~/ <br />The undergrowth consists of fireweed (Kochia scoparia), salt prass <br />(Distichlis stricta), alkali sacaton \Sporobolus airoidies), sand <br />dropseed (Sporobolus cr~ptandrus), sunflowers (Eelianthus ~.), <br />wild licorice (Glycyrrhlza lepidota), and various other species <br />of weedy plants and grasses. <br /> <br />\fuerever possible the flood plain is farmed as close to the <br />river as the threat of flooding permits. Many dikes may be found <br />up and_down the river which aid the farmer in protecting crops <br />planted close to the river. When it is not possible to farm the <br />flood plain it is l'astured. Very little area waS found along the <br />river that was not under cultivation or grazed. ~ild animals such <br />as deer, coyotes, and many rodents exert a considerable influence <br />upon the herbaceous vegetation within the flood plains. <br /> <br />Y Taxonomic nomenclature is according to Harrington (1954). <br /> <br />2 <br />