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<br />is nearly level to gently sloping with some microrelief. Land smoothing <br />and leveling of this microrelief to facilitate more even distribution of <br />water under border dike or contour ditch irrigation methods removes the <br />topsoil from high spots and adds it to low areas. This increases soil <br />variability as to water holding capacity and productivity. <br /> <br />The low water holding capacity and moderately rapid to rapid <br />permeability of the soils results in much of the water from the canals, <br />ditches, and that applied to the field being lost through deep <br />percolation. This waste water is retained or held up as a perched water <br />table by the underlying shale. Buildup of a water table above the shale <br />has created wet soils conditions generally with accompanying salinity <br />and alkalinity. Drainage ditches have been installed to drain some <br />areas, but other areas would benefit if drainage were improved or deep <br />percolation reduced. Ditch lining and sprinkler irrigation should <br />reduce the extent of wet areas and lower the perched water table. This <br />could retard and even reduce the buildup of salinity and alkalinity. <br /> <br />FISH AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES <br /> <br />Fisheries habitat is found on streams that flow throughout the <br />watershed area. Principal fish species present in the lower Big Sandy <br />River and Little Sandy Creek consist of rainbow and brown trout, carp, <br />and suckers. The lower Big Sandy River extends 40 miles from the town <br />of Farson to the confluence with the Green River. This reach of stream <br />is high in nutrients. It has fair to poor resident trout habitat <br />throughout. Major limiting factors for salmonids are excessive summer <br />temperature maximums and heavy accumulation of sediments. Populations <br />of trout are known to exist in this reach of the Big Sandy River when <br />temperature levels are acceptable, especially in the 8- to 10-mile <br />region of cold water bank seeps below Farson. Bone Draw is a left-side <br />tributary that empties into the Big Sandy River approximately 5 miles <br />below the project area. The water sources to Bone Draw are several <br />small cold water saline seeps that occur in the last one-half mile of <br />the draw. In addition, during the irrigation season, some intermittent <br />tail water runoff from the project area reaches the outlet of Bone Draw. <br />1--, <br /> <br />During the initial study from 1977 through 1979, Bone Draw <br />waterflows were monitored. Under normal water years, Bone Draw could be <br />expected to have flows near .5 cfs in the spring of the year to near <br />1.5 cfs in the fall. The channel flow widths vary from less than 1 foot <br />in the seep area to about 1.5 feet at the outlet into the Big Sandy <br />River. In 1977, a water-short year, the flow in Bone Draw decreased to <br />approximately .25 cfs. In the severe water-short years of 1960 and <br />1961, the saline seeps in Bone Draw essentially dried up with no water <br />getting to the outlet of the draw. <br /> <br />In 1980, BLM asked and received from SCS flow records from Bone <br />Draw. The BLM was informed at that time that Bone Draw could be <br />expected to dry up if water-short years were encountered or if a <br />salinity project was implemented in the Eden Project area. <br /> <br />., '1 i..i"", <br />v~ l.;o <br /> <br />6 <br />