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LAND USE <br />1.0 Rangeland <br />Rangeland is the present and historic land use of <br />the study site and the entire Williams Fork Mountains. <br />These mountains are drained by the Yampa and Williams <br />Fork Rivers. The bottomlands along these rivers and <br />rolling hills adjacent to these bottomlands suitable <br />for croplands were planted in the Late 1800's and early <br />1900`s under the Agricultural Homestead Laws. Most of <br />the nonfarmable lands such as the rangeland higher in <br />the mountains was acquired for private ownership through <br />the Stock Raising Homestead Act. <br />Most of the livestock operators is this area have <br />either Bureau of Land Management or Colorado State leases <br />or permits to graze their livestock on public lands in <br />conjunction with their own land. Cattle and sheep gen- <br />erally graze at high elevation during summer but are <br />taken to lower and more accessible private land for winter <br />range. <br />i - The 600-acre study site is part of a large privately <br />owned ranch of approximately 800 acres, on which cattle <br />~~'` are grazed from May until October, depending on the weather. <br />The size of the ranch does not necessitate the use of federal <br />or state leases to.efficiently graze cattle. <br />2.0 Recreational <br />Big and small game hunting is a seasonal land use of <br />the Williams Fork Mountains and the study site. The region <br />provides excel-lent big game hunting, due to ease of access <br />and high densities of deer and elk. Both deer and elk are <br />hunted on the study site with the consent of the land <br />owner. Harvest records for both species indicate that this region <br />has recorded some of the highest annual harvests of elk <br />and deer for the Last 20 years. <br />Although sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, band-tailed <br />pigeon, and mourning dove are all game birds occurring in <br />the vicinity of the study site, the only game bird regularly <br />hunted is blue grouse. Cottontail rabbits, another small <br />game species,~is also hunted in the area. <br />3.0 Rangeland Productivity <br />Soil scientists of the Steamboat Springs office of <br />,~ the Soil Conservation Service mapped the range sites at <br /> <br />-1- <br />