WSP04023

• File Number: 8272.600.60
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - Basin Member State Info - Utah
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 7/1/1990
• Title: Upper Colorado River Basin Rangeland Salinity Control Project
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Mancos Pediment. The elevation of the Sagers Flat zone ranges
from about 4600 feet to 4800 feet. Precipitation ranges from 6
to 8 inches which limits the potential for vegetative work. The
droughty nature of the soils in combination with the low moisture
regime result in large areas with little or no vegetation.
Ecological sites in the Sagers Flat include: Desert Alkali Flat,
and Desert Clay.

In general, this zone is utilized by sheep and cattle in the
winter and spring and antelope year-round. Improvement potential
through planting or reseeding measures are very limited because
of low moisture and poor soil conditions.

UNIT 7 - The Highlands - The Highlands unit is an area that is
significant in size (29,707 acres) and diverse in ecological
sites. contained within this zone are saltbush community types
and pinion-juniper types community types. The potential or lack
of potential for success of vegetation treatments in the
Highlands correlates directly with the ecological site. The
sites reflect the predominant soil or parent material, climate,
and current or potential vegetation. The Saltbush Zone within
the Highlands over a Mancos pediment is as poor a risk for
treatment as it would be elsewhere in the watershed. A
productive pinion-juniper site in the Highlands may have a good
potential for treatment, just as the pinion-juniper ecological
sites in the Pinion-Juniper Terrace. There may be a potential
for habitat or forage improvement through reseeding efforts,
livestock season management and livestock number adjustments.
The saltbush ecological sites in the Highlands include the Desert
Shallow Sandy Loam, the Desert Sandy Loam, the Talus Slope-steep,
the Semi-desert Loam, the Semi-desert Sandy Loam, and the Semi-
desert Shallow Sandy Loam.

The pinion-juniper ecological sites in the Highlands are in the
Semi-Desert Shallow sandy Loam site.

The Highlands encompass parts of three grazing allotments and are
grazed in the fall, winter, and spring by cattle and sheep. It
is also habitat for mule deer and antelope.

UNIT 8 - Cisco pits - This unit was named after the pits which
were constructed in the late 1950s and 1960s to decrease erosion
and sedimen~ation. The pits were the subject of much research,
including the following: Report for Project 689 (West, et aI,
1969), the Effects of Surface Soil Treatments on Soil, Water, and
Vegetation in Utah's East Desert Area (Coltharp and West, 1966),
the Economics of Soil Treatments in the Upper Colorado (Workman
and Kieth, 1975). The cisco pits Unit of this project
encompasses about 9,952 acres of saltbush ecotypes. The Desert
Clay ecological site is in the cisco pits Unit.

This area exhibits a stable range condition with an apparent

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