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USDA United Stat~ Natural Resources Roc~ord Field Office
<br />Department of Conservation USDA Service Center
<br />Agriculture Service 200 South 10'" Street
<br />(NRCS) Rocky Ford, CO 81067
<br />Telephone: 719 254.7672 http://www.co.nres.usda.gov Fax: 719 254-4541
<br />January 31, 2001
<br />Mr. Lloyd "Buck" Barnhart
<br />Barnhart Agency, Inc.
<br />212 West 13th Street
<br />Pueblo, CO 81003
<br />Deaz Mr. Barnhart,
<br />In answer to your letter of January 17, 2001, enclosed are the soils map and the soils descriptions
<br />for sections 4 and 5 T23S, R58W.
<br />There are two range sites.
<br />One would be gravel breaks. This is the soil marked Cg on the soils map. Sideoats grams would
<br />be expected to dominate this site. Little bluestem, blue grams, galleta and needleandthread grasses
<br />are the other major producers on this site. Indian ricegrass, big bluestem, hairy grams, New Mexico
<br />feathergrass, sand dropseed, and red threeawn also occur in minor amounts. Forbs can produce up
<br />to five percent of the forage on this site. Commonly occurring forbs are: cushion buckwheat, lazge
<br />flowered Indian paintbrush, dotted gayfeather, hairy goldaster, hoods phlox, purple prairieclover,
<br />wormwood, Colorado greenthread and groundleaf groundsel. Shrubs can make up to ] 0 percent of
<br />the total production on this site. Bigelow sagebrush, broom shakeweed, green plume rabbitbrush,
<br />fringed sagebrush, plains pricklypeaz, skunkbush sumac, small soapweed, and walking stick cholla
<br />are common shrubs on the site. Shadscale and four wing saltbush may occur on slopes below the
<br />gravel cap where the gravel lies over shale.
<br />The other site is loamy plains. This site has soils marked HsB, MaB, and MeB. The expected plant
<br />community is about 80 to 90 percent grasses, 5 to 10 percent forbs, and 5 to 10 percent shrubs. The
<br />dominant grasses are short grasses. The most abundant of the grasses aze blue grams, western
<br />wheatgrass, buffalograss, galleta, and sand dropseed. Less abundant grasses are bottlebrush
<br />squirreltail, needleandthread, red threeawn, ring muhly, Sideoats grams, and tumblegrass. Forbs that
<br />make up the plant community are curlycup gumweed, dotted gayfeather, hairy goldaster, scazlet
<br />globemallow, and purple prairie clover. Shrubs that occur on this site are broom snakeweed,
<br />fourwing saltbush, plains pricklypeaz, rubber rabbitbrush, small soapweed, spreading eriogonum,
<br />walking stick cholla, and ~r~nterfat.
<br />The Natural Resources Conservation Service works hand~in~hand with
<br />the American people to conserve natural resources on private lands AN EQUAL OPPROTUNITY PROVIDER AND EMPLOYER
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