Laserfiche WebLink
southwestern Moffat Counties. Higher elevation portions of the drainage basin aze <br />characterized by juniper woodland and sagebrush-grass vegetation, while clayey salt <br />desert-type vegetation predominates within lower elevation portions of the watershed. <br />Average annual precipitation within the Red Wash basin varies from 9 to 12 inches. <br />Information in the permit application indicates that certain tributary drainages in the <br />upper reaches of Red Wash are intermittent because ground water may enter the <br />stream during snowmelt season. Two stock watering ponds have been constructed in <br />tributary drainages to the north and west of the AVF study azea, but the ponds <br />generally dry up during the summer. Red Wash, in the vicinity of the permit azea, <br />flows only for a short period in eazly 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 aze similaz to Red Wash with respect to basin size, climate, <br />soils and vegetation. Examples aze Dripping Rock Drainage, Stinking Creek, Spring <br />Creek and Fletcher Creek in western Rio Blanco County. Tributary drainages that do <br />support irrigated agriculture aze without exception characterized by higher <br />precipitation headwater azeas, which support aspen, mountain brush and coniferous <br />vegetation types. These drainages aze either perennial or dependably contain flows <br />sufficient to allow diversion during the irrigation season (Alvin Jones, personal <br />communication). The land use map and discussion with Mr. Jones, Range <br />Conservationist with the Soil Conservation Service in Meeker, document that it is not <br />the regional practice to irrigate alluvial deposits associated with ephemeral drainages <br />contained within the 9-to-12-inch precipitation zone in Rio Blanco County. <br />C. Salinity hazazd of surface water based on data in the ERO study would be classified as <br />"high" based on USGS criteria (USGS, 1970). <br />D. Vegetation and soil pit information in the ERO Document indicate that Greasewood <br />(Sarcobatus vermiculatus); the most prominent vegetation species on the alluvial <br />terraces adjacent to the Red Wash Channel is probably subimgated. Greasewood is a <br />salt-tolerant phreatophyte and soil pits indicate an alluvial zone of saturation at depths <br />of between 5 and 8 feet. Greasewood is not an agriculturally useful species and is, in <br />fact, poisonous to sheep under certain conditions. Data collected by the permittee do <br />not indicate the presence of agriculturally significant vegetation that might be <br />expected to benefit from the high water table. This is supported by observations made <br />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 <br />at the confluence of Red Wash and the White River indicate a range in EC levels from <br />a low of 3,500 umhos/cm to a high of 12,000 umhos/cm between Mazch, 1981 and <br />August, 1982 (ERO, 1982). Based on a USGS irrigation water rating chart (USGS, <br />45 <br />