PERMFILE117348 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

The Kannah Creek Property is situated where west-flowing Kannah Creek crosses the lower portion of the 5,000-foot thick Marcos Shale and enters a narrow canyon cut into the Dakota Group immediately above the point where Kannah Creek joins the north- flowing Gunnison River. Tlie presence of the resistant Dakota strata has probably prevented Kannah Creek from cutting deeper and removing the old outwash filling the lower end of its valley. BOTAMCAL SUMMARY In western Colorado, most plant experts recognize the presence of five "vegetative zones" which are, from lowest to highest, Upper Sonoran Desert, Lower Montane or Transitional, Montane, Subalpine and Alpine zones, as shown in figure 4. Of most interest to us in this survey is the Upper Sonoran Desert zone. The writers recognize three communities or subzones within the Upper Sonoran. These are, from lowest to highest, the Greasewood-Saltbush-Rabbitbrush, the Sagebrush, and the Pinyon-Juniper (P-J) communities. Their names indicate the dominant shrubs in each of the communities, but the dominant shrub in one community may also be present in lesser abundance in the other two communities. At the Kartnalt Creek Property, we are in the Greasewood-Saltbush-Rabbitbrosh community, which predominates between elevations of 4,000 and 5,500 feet. However, as in nearly all locations in populated portions of western Colorado, this plant community has been so greately disturbed and distorted by farming, ranching, construction, and revegetation that it is virtually unrecognizable. METHODS USED A pedestrian survey was conducted on the Property by walking in zig-zag lines, 50 to 100 feet apart, from north to south across the surface of the 21.93 acres to be excavated and/or disturbed. Adjacent areas, particularly a higher azea northwest of the Property and just south of the Elam 5eld office, were also investigated because they appeared to be favorable habitats for cacti. RESULTS OF BOTAMCAL SURVEY In our botanical survey of the Kannah Creek Property, we recorded all plant species that we encountered and have included them here as Table 1. As noted previously, our prime target was the Uinta Basin hookless cactus. We did not find any Sclerocac[us glaucus in our investigation of the Property. This was not unexpected, because of its location in the relatively damp and grazed valley bottom. There is a more promising cactus-tolerant habitat present about 1,000 feet northwest of the Property, on a remnant of gravel- covered outwash terrace formed by either the Gunnison River or Kannah Creek. This hillock was not investigated by the writers because it was outside the Properly boundary. It should also be noted here that no other rare plants were discovered on the Property by the survey. -3-