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Map Unit No. 66 Skylick Loams and Clay Loams 5 to 65 percent slopes. ~~ This strongly Sloping, well drained soil is on high ridges, crests and ~- mountain footslopes. Slopes are irregular to broken. The native vegetation is mainly a mixture of shrubs, aspen and oakbrush including snowberry, chokecherry, gooseberry, service berry, bitterbrush, big sage, grasses and forbs. Elevation is 7000 to 8100 feet. The average annual precipitation is about 18 to 20 inches, the average annual air temperature is 37 to 42 degrees F., and the average frost-free period is 6b to 85 days. Soil temperatures are in the cryic soil zone. Individual areas of this unit are irregular in shape and range from a few to many acres in size. Typically the black ~QYRR 2/1) loam to clay loam surface layer is about 20 inches thick but ranges from 15 to 30 inches thick. A 1-2 inch organic mulch (0~1) overlays the black topsoil. The subsoil is about 10 inches thick. It is almost a continuation of the A horizon, being a black (lOYR 2/1 to 3/1) silt loam to silty clay loa~~ sandstone fragments and channers maybe in the surface in places. The C horizon may be very thin over weathered sandstone or be dark stony loams and clay loams~ 9~ones and channers increase with depth. The soil is underlain by sandstone at depths of 30 to 60 inches. Electrical conducti- vity is low. Sodium $bsorption ratios are low. The pH values range from 5.8 to 6.2 for the surface and 4,•9 to 6.1 in the lower horizons. Included with this soil in mapping are small areas of shallow soils over sandstone and sandst one outcrops on slope breaks and ridges. Water and air move through this soil at a moderate rate and surface run- off is moderate. Root development may be restricted below a depth of about 30-40 inches by sandstone bedrock although root penetration through fissures and cracks in the rock may be deeper. This unit is a fair to good source for topsoil. Quality of topsoil is good but may be effected by the presence of channers and sandstone fragments. Quantity of suitable topsoil my be limited by an average depth of 24-36 inches in the less stony places and to shallower depths where rock is nearer to the surface. Topsoil salvage operations are likely therefore to be limited by variable stone content. by slopes of 20-60 percent. and by presence of bedrock at shallow depths on ridges and breaks. The most limiting factors for this unit are stone content and depth to bedrock. -22-