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iiiiii»iiiiiii iu <br />999 <br />SOILS <br />s -~ -8`~ <br />S'v EXHIBIT I <br />The following is a report prepared by Mark A. Heffner <br />of Oikos Environmental Services. <br />Soils on the Loesch Pit site are of average quality for <br />Colorado River bottomland areas. Soils low in salinity and/or <br />alkalinity are difficult to find along the Colorado River below <br />Kremmling, Colorado, and the further downstream one goes, the <br />more difficult it becomes. By the time Grand Junction is <br />reached, some degree of salinity and alkalinity must be expected <br />in all soils near the river. On this site, most of the soils <br />have some degree of salinity or alkalinity or both. Local areas <br />exhibit intensely saline/alkaline conditions and the larger <br />patches of these soils are identified on the soil map and dis- <br />cussed in the topsoil salvage section of the Reclamation Plan <br />(Exhibit E). <br />There are four major soils found on the site: <br />(1) Arvada loam, 1 to 6 percent slopes (map unit X33BC) <br />(2) Wann sandy loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes (map unit X3B) <br />(3) Halaquepts, nearly level (map unit SW) <br />(4) Heldt clay loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes (map unit 38B) <br />By far, the Wann sandy loam is most common on the site, followed <br />by nearly equal amounts of the Halaquepts and the Heldt clay loam. <br />The Arvada loam is least common. The following descriptions are <br />taken, in part, from Soil Conservation Service information and, <br />in part, from an intensive on-site survey. In general, the <br />-29- <br />