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<br />grouping also includes about 19 percent miscellaneous land types; 8 percent
<br />deep, moderately coarse to fine textured Alluvial soils; 14 percent moderately
<br />coarse to medium textured Lithosols; and 4 percent Humic Gley soils.
<br />
<br />This grouping has the largest acreage of irrigated land in the Gunnison River
<br />Basin (131,600 acres), with about 75,000 acres of the Brown soils, 13,960
<br />acres of Chestnut soils, 37,040 acres of Humic Gley soils and 5,600 acres
<br />.of Alluvial soils. The common natural vegetation consists of sagebrush,
<br />juniper, pinyon pine, western wheatgrass, phlox, Indian rice grass, need1e-
<br />and-thread grass and squirrel tail.
<br />
<br />3. Mountain Prairie-Chestnut
<br />
<br />Soils of this grouping have developed under a higher effective precipitation
<br />than those in soil grouping number 2. They have developed on gently to
<br />moderately sloping Alluvial fans and valley fills, and steep to very steep
<br />mountainous uplands, in glacial till of mixed parent rock and alluvium and
<br />residuum from a variety of parent rocks at elevations ranging from 7,000
<br />to 9,000 feet. They are moderately deep to deep, moderately coarse to
<br />moderately fine textured soils which are slightly alkaline to slightly acid
<br />in reaction and generally the lime is leached deeper in the soil profile
<br />than soils in grouping number 2. This grouping also includes about 17 per-
<br />cent miscellaneous land types; 7 percent moderately coarse to medium textured
<br />Lithosols; and 5 percent deep, moderately coarse to moderately fine textured
<br />Alluvial soils with inclusions of deep, moderately coarse to moderately fine
<br />textured Humic Gley soils.
<br />
<br />About 36,700 acres of this soil grouping are irrigated, with 8,000 acres
<br />of Mountain Prairie soils, 22,000 acres of Chestnut soils and 6,700 acres
<br />of Alluvial soils. The common,natural vegetation consists of big sagebrush,
<br />oakbrush, service berry, choke cherry, Arizona fescue, mountain muhlenbergia,
<br />and western wheatgrass. Some good stands of ponderosa pine are also found
<br />on these soils.
<br />
<br />4. Gray Wooded-Brown Podzolic-Mountain Prairie
<br />
<br />Soils of this grouping have developed under high effective precipitation
<br />on moderate to strongly sloping valley fills, alluvial fans and mesa tops,
<br />and steep to very steep mountainous uplands, in alluvium, residuum and
<br />colluvium, from sandstone, shale, tuff and rhyolite, at elevations ranging
<br />from 9,000 to 11,500 feet. They are moderately deep to deep, moderately
<br />coarse to moderately fine textured soils, generally with a high percentage
<br />of large angular pieces of parent rock throughout the profile, neutral to
<br />acid in reaction and have the lime leached deep into the parent material.
<br />Common inclusions in this grouping are small, wet depressional areas of
<br />peat, muck and mineral soil. This grouping also includes about 21 percent
<br />miscellaneous land types; 18 percent deep, moderately coarse to moderately
<br />fine textured Alluvial soils; and 5 percent moderately coarse to medium
<br />textured Lithosols.
<br />
<br />- 6 -
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