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stream during snowmelt season. Two stock watering ponds have been constructed in <br />tributary drainages to the north and west of the AVF study area, but the ponds <br />generally dry up during the summer. Red Wash, in the vicinity of the permit area, <br />flows only for a short period in early spring due to snowmelt runoff, and in response <br />to intense storm events during summer and fall. <br />The SCS land use map indicates that no irrigation occurs along drainages in Rio <br />Blanco County which are similar to Red Wash with respect to basin size, climate, soils <br />and vegetation. Examples are Dripping Rock Drainage, Stinking Creek, Spring Creek <br />and Fletcher Creek in western Rio Blanco County. Tributary drainages which do <br />support irrigated agriculture are without exception characterized by higher precipitation <br />headwater arras which support aspen, mountain brush and coniferous vegetation types. <br />These drainages are either perennial or dependably contain flows sufficient to allow <br />diversion during the irrigation season (Alvin Jones, personal communication). The <br />land use map and discussion with Mr. Jones, Range Conservationist with the Soil <br />Conservation Service in Meeker, document that it is not the regional practice to <br />irrigate alluvial deposits associated with ephemeral drainages contained within the 9- <br />to-l2-inch precipitation zone in Rio Blanco County. <br />C. Salinity hazard of surface water based on data in the ERO study would be <br />classified as "high" based on USGS criteria (iJSGS, 1970). <br />D. Vegetation and soil pit information in the ERO Document indicate that <br />Greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus), the most prominent vegetation species on the <br />alluvial terraces adjacent to the Red Wash Channel is probably subirrigated. <br />Greasewood is asalt-tolerant phreatophyte and soil pits indicate an alluvial zone of <br />saturation at depths of between 5 and 8 feet. Greasewood is not an agriculturally <br />useful species and is, in fact, poisonous to sheep under certain conditions. Data <br />collected by the permittee do not indicate the presence of agriculturally significant <br />vegetation which might be expected to benefit from the high water table. This is <br />supported by observations made on-site by Division staff in September 1983. <br />The potential agricultural importance of the high water table and subirrigation is <br />negated by the high electrical conductivity (EC) of the alluvial ground water. <br />Analyses of ground water quality samples collected for Alluvial Well Qal - 2 located at <br />the confluence of Red Wash and the White River indicate a range in EC levels from a <br />low of 3,500 umhos/cm to a high of 12,000 umhos/cm between March, 1981 and <br />August, 1982 (F1t0, 1982). Based on a USGS imgation water rating chart (USGS, <br />1970), the salinity hazard of such water could be rated "very high". <br />Scullion Gulch <br />Geomorphic Characteristics <br />Scullion Gulch is an ephemeral stream which crosses the lower southwest portion of <br />the permit area, draining to the White River. the confluence of Scullion Gulch and the <br />White River is also within the permit area. Scullion Gulch receives drainage from the <br />27 <br />