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1.3 Summary of Results The B,000 acre study area is located in the Danforth Hills in northwestern Colorado. The site consists of broad uplands, narrow ridges, steep mountain sideslopes, and narrow valley bottoms. The major streams are Wilson, East Fork of Wilson, Good Spring, West Fork of Good Spring, ono Taylor Creeks. James and Elkhorn are two smaller creeks in the northeastern part of the study area. , The soils on the broad, gently sloping uplands are moderately deep, dark, and loamy. They are derived from interbedded sandstone and shale, and some are clayey below two feet. Shallow, flagyy, light-colored soils occupy narrow ridyetops and breaks in slopes. Soils on the east and west facing mountain sideslopes under mountain shrubs have thick, dark surface looms with gravelly foams or clayey subsoils. Soils on south facing mountain sideslopes are shallow, weakly developed, channery or flagyy, and loamy to clayey. Soils on north-facing mountain sideslopes under aspen or mountain shrubs have thick, dark, loamy surface layers over cobbly subsoils. Valley bottom soils are deep, mostly well drained, dark looms but a few are poorly drained and/or stratified with thin lenses of clay or gravel'. There are recent flood deposits of very gravelly loamy sands. The soils of the study area are classified as Moll.isols in fine-loamy, loamy-skeletal, and fine fam flies. Subgroups are Haploborolls, Cryaquolls, Cryoboroils, and Paleborolls. The shallow soils are Entisols in the same families, in subgroups of Torriorihents, Cryorthents and Torrifluvents. The primary land use in the study area is grazing. Some ranches use the bottomlands for grazing, pasture, hay production ono residences. The soils are, for the most part, in SCS lantl capability classes considered unsuitable for cultivation. There are no prime farmlands in the study area. Tne soils of the site are generally well suited for reclamation. Field and laboratory results indicate very good physicial and chemical characteristics. Piany of the soils have thick dark rnollic epipedons that have excellent reclamation potential and the subsoils have few limiting features. When calculating topsoil volumes, the volume available from the mollic epipedons (lift 1) should be calculated first, and any deficit made up from the subsoils (lift 2). The soils appear to be thick enough to provide adequate topsoiliny material. However volumes were not calculated for this study because the affected area is not defined at this time. Hottomland soils have a lift 1 thickness of about five feet. Upland .soils under thick vegetation are one to three feet thick in lift 1 and one to three feet thick or more in lift 2. Soils associated with rock outcrops or those that have lower organic matter content (Entisols) are not recommended for lift 1 but have lift 2 thicknesses of one to tnree feet. Most of the map units of the study area have a combined 5