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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 00,05no CHAPTER 9 - KANSAS SUBBASIN SUBBASIN DESCRIPTION The Kansas Subbasin, lying along the southern edge of the Missouri River Basin, encompasses about 38.9 million acres. As shown in figure 9-1, the subbasin includes all of the land drained from west to east by the Kansas River and its tributaries in Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. It has a maximum east-west width of nearly 500 miles and a maximum north-south extent of about 220 miles. Generally, the topography is gently rolling, punctuated by scattered buttes, knobs, and level country. Elevations range from 6,000 feet (mean sea level) in the Colorado high plains downward to about 750 feet at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers at Kansas City. The subbasin is dominated by agricultural land use. Woodlands and forests border the major streams and rivers of the subbasin and provide important habitat for wildlife and birds. The subbasin's numerous manmade reservoirs and farm ponds provide good quality warm water fisheries. Natural wetlands scattered throughout the subbasin provide critical production areas for waterfowl. In 1975, the total human population of the Kansas Subbasin was estimated to be 1.3 million. Urban residents constituted 62 percent of the total and generally are concentrated toward the eastern third of the subbasin. This component of the population is projected to increase by more than 50 percent before the year 2000. In contrast, rural population is expected to decline due to decreasing farm size and out-migration of rural youth. Nearly half of the subbasin's population resides in the area's two Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Kansas City and Topeka. An estimated 2,200 native American Indians live in the Kansas subbasin. 9-1