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• mid-May to mid-July. Range forage plants are favored by spring moisture <br />from accumulated snow (U.S.D.A. SCS 1975: 238; Elmore 1976: 109). <br />There have been few paleoclimatic studies of western Colorado; none <br />are known to have been conducted for the immediate vicinity of the project <br />area. Reed and Nickens (1980: 65), working at the DeBeque Rockshelter <br />.near Palisade, Colorado (^- 35 miles east of the present study area), re- <br />port that malacological, palynological, and geoarchaeological analyses <br />indicated varying patterns of climate fluctuation during the Holocene <br />but that they did not appear to have been great enough to have effected <br />an alteration in floral and faunal communities. Bryson and Wendland <br />(1967: 281) also claim that, for the past 5000 years, variations in Holo- <br />cene climates have been insignificant and that vegetation communities <br />have remained relatively stable. Antevs (1955) disagrees with this con- <br />clusion, proposing an Altithermal period between 5000-2500 B.C. during <br />which time drought conditions were quite severe, forcing peoples to re- <br />• treat to higher, wetter areas. In view of these conflicting theories, <br />it is difficult to reconstruct the paleoclimate of the study area, but <br />it seems probable that, regardless of whatever minor climatic changes <br />may have occurred locally, they have not appreciatively altered the <br />plant and animal communities. <br />Flora <br /> <br />Although irrigated pastures occur along East Salt Creek, much of the <br />valley floor exhibits a "saltflats" plant community. Vegetation consists <br />primarily of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), juniper (Juniper osteo- <br />sperma ), saltbush (Atriplex canescens), rabbitbrush (Crysothamnus nauseosus), <br />snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae), greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus), <br />Russian thistle (Salsola kali), and Indian ricegrass (Oryzopsis hymenoides). <br />Riparian vegetation bordering the creek consists of tamarisk (Tamarix <br />. pentandra), willow (Salix exi ua), and various rushes and sedges. <br />In the northern part of the study area, on the slopes and ridges <br />8 <br />