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• The land use and ownership patterns today are probably a reflection on the early days of the <br />Colorado Cooperative Company. Mercer (1967) states that individuals were permitted water <br /> <br />I• <br />rights on up to 40 acres for each share of stock, though it required several shares of water to <br />adequately irrigate 40 acres. Land ownership today is usually in 40-acre parcels or multiples <br />thereof. Years of operations and management have resulted in most of the arable land that can <br />be reached by irrigation to be put into one form of agricultural production or another. This <br />includes the majority of First Park and a large portion of Second Park. Irrigation of potential farm <br />lands on Third Park, located across Coal Canyon north of Second Parts has not been carried out <br />because of a lack of a water delivery system. The extension of the Colorado Cooperative Ditch <br />across Coal Canyon and onto Third Park would be prohibitive at this time in terms of <br />engineering, construction requirements, and cost (Mrs. Tom Garvey, personal communication, <br />June 1987). <br />The areas of deeper, more productive soils v~ithin the study and proposed permit areas are used <br />for hay production, crops such as annual grains and corn silage, and irrigated pasture. Some of <br />the irrigated hayland and much of the irrigated pasture contain areas of shallow soils or rock <br />ledges and outcrops at or near the surface (see Tab 6, Geology and Tab 7, Soils). This places <br />restrictions on management and production. Lands within the proposed permit area are used for <br />pasture rental, hay sales, as a pasture or hay base, and support facilities for livestock run on <br />adjacent private and Federal ground during the spring, summer, and fall, or as hobby or <br />retirement properties. The latter are used to produce some hay or pasture for the few livestock <br />owned by these operators. Farm ground on the western portion of the study area is used for <br />production of grain or corn silage, some of which may be sold as cash crops. Generally, these <br />crops are fed back to livestock run by the operator. Cropland also occurs vrithin the western <br />portion of the proposed permit area (central portion of the study area). Six abandoned orchards <br />occur within the study area, while only one is located v~ithin the proposed permit area. Orchards <br />established early after the establishment of Nucla, were used principally for cash crop v~ith a <br />large portion of the production going to the mining districts around Telluride. By the 1940s, the <br />market demand was gone and the orchards were abandoned (James Johnson, personal <br />communication, May 1987). These orchards are no longer managed and only local incidental <br />use is made of them now. Some of these orchards may, at least seasonally, be grazed along <br />with adjacent irrigated pasture. Property ownership and vegetation and production information <br />for the study and proposed permit area can be found in Section 2.03, (Legal, Financial, <br />(REVISED 3-29-961 2.04.3-7 <br />