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<br />Details of the landownership pattern are shown on the Land Ownership <br />Map on the following page. Tabular infonnation on land ownership <br />is given in Table III-g. <br /> <br />Cover Conditions and Management <br /> <br />Cover conditions vary from dense virgin forest to nearly barren <br />desert areas. Total water production follows the same pattern and <br />is generally related to the same factors of elevation, exposure, <br />and effective climate that produce the variations in cover. <br /> <br />Management of the plant cover is of particular importance in this <br />basin because of the limited regrowth possibilities imposed by <br />climate and precipitation. Sediment production is directly related <br />to the kind and amount of plant cover. Most of the higher sediment <br />producing areas are the more arid, poorly vegetated soils. The <br />irrigated and dry cropland cultivated land contribute to the sediment <br />production. The principal erosive areas, however, are the arid range- <br />lands. <br /> <br />The Land Use and Plant Cover Map following Table 111-9 illustrates <br />the general location of cover types in the basin. <br /> <br />IRRIGATED CROPLAND <br /> <br />There are 256,800 acres of irrigated cropland in the basin: 10,800 <br />acres are in Arizona; 186,700 acres are in Colorado; 53,200 acres <br />in New Mexico, and 6100 acres in Utah. Most of this land is used <br />for hay and pasture. Corn, usually used for silage and small grains <br />account for most of the remainder. The hay, pasture, and silage <br />yields contribute to the total forage and feed for livestock and <br />wildlife of the basin, and are a vital supplement to the grazing <br />land. Vegetable and fruit farming has limited acreage and ~s gen- <br />erally in the Durango-Cortez-Farmington areas. <br /> <br />DRY CROPLAND <br /> <br />Dry cropland constitutes 2.3 percent of the basin area (Table 111-3). <br />Most of this land is in the Cortez-Dove Creek-Monticello area and <br />is a dry bean production center. Small grain, principally winter <br />wheat, is another leading crop. <br /> <br />The combination of suitable soils, and a frost-free period which <br />fits both .the planting and harvest dates, has led to a considerable <br />expansion in dry bean farming since the middle 1940's. This expan- <br />sion in acreage is still going on in the Cortez-Dove Creek-Monticello <br /> <br />I II -29 <br />