WSP03157

• File Number: 8126.700
• Description: Arkansas River Coordinating Committee - Committees - Subcommittees
• State: CO
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 1/1/3000
• Author: CSU Dept of Botany
• Title: A Survey of the Woody Phreatophytes in the lower Arkansas River Valley of Colorado
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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SUMI.1ARY

A survey was conducted to determine the acreage of woody phreato-
phyte vegetation on the flood plain of the Arkansas River between
Pueblo, Colorado and the Colorado-Kansas State line. Also acreages of
the woody phreatophytes along two of the major tributaries of the
Arkansas River (Fountain Creek and the Purgatoire River) were determi.ned.

Eight survey sites on the Arkansas River, approximately twenty miles
apart, were selected as transect line sites. The woody phreatophyte
vegetation along the flood plai.n was divided into three types - TYPe I
consisted primarily of salt cedar, Type II consisted of stands of salt
cedar mixed with either willows or cottonwoocs, and Type III consisted
of either stands of willow or cottonwood or both but with little salt
cedar present. The percent cover of the woody phreatophytes (salt cedar,
willo~, and cottonwood) was determined alon~ each transect line by the
line intercept method. This information was then used as a basis for
typing the remaining woody phreatophyte vegetation along the flood plain.
Typing was done by delineating the vegetation types on aerial photos and
then planimetering these areas to determine the acreage.

Results of the survey show that approximately 23,&09 acres of woody
phreatophytes may be found on the Arkansas River between Pueblo and the
Colorado-Kansas State line. Of this, approximately 8,454 acres are Type
I, 12,394 acres Type II, and 2,7&1 acreS Type III. Approximately 30&
acres of Type I, 3,7&2 acres of Type II, and 431 acres of Type III were
found on Fountain Creek between Colorado Springs and Pueblo and on the
Purgatoire River approximately 2,02& acres of Type I, 8,779 acres of Type
II, and 418 acres of Type III were found.

The data from the transect line survey and from the aerial photos
show that cottonwoods make up a larger percentage of the woody phreatophyte
cover on the west end of the survey area while salt cedar comprises the
greater percentage of the cover on the east end. Willows do not comprise
a very large percentage of the total cover along the flood plain and are
even less important on the east end of the survey area.

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