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ENVIRONMENTAL DESCRIPTION <br />. T;~e following brief sketch of the environment of the project a.'<~~i is intended to provide <br />information on the important characteristics of local hydrology, elevation, topography, <br />flora ~md Cauna, find climate. Given that aboriginal groups .vere dependent upon local <br />resources for food, clothing, shelter, and tools, it is assumed that the availability of local <br />resources strongly influenced the density and distribution of aboriginal sites in the <br />project area. For the nonaboriginal inhabitants who were more dependent on the wider <br />industrial economy, local environmental conditions played a lesser but still important <br />role in determining site density and distribution. An understanding of past environmental <br />conditions, then, is considered crucial to reconstructing aboriginal and nonaboriginal <br />subsistence and settlement systems. <br />GEOLOGY :\ND SOILS <br />The project area is underlain by the Upper Cretaceous tilliams Fork formation, <br />consisting of sandstone, shale, and coal. The Upper Cretaceous Iles formation (Heil et al. <br />1977), stratigraphically under the Williams Fork formation, also consists of sandstone, <br />shale, and coal. These formations are part of an anticline running northeast/southwest <br />• through [lie study area. <br />Dominant ,oils are formed in materials weathered residually from shale, while less <br />e~ctensive soils are Cormed in aeolian and alluvial deposits. Borollic Camborthids <br />comprise about 65"6 of the soils in the area, while Aridic AgribarolLs comprise about 35"b <br />(Veil et al. 1977) <br />SF,TT[ VG <br />The project area is located at the northern fringe of the Williams Fork Mountain Range <br />to the north of the Yampa River valley. Ttiventy ~1ile Park borders the study area to the <br />east, and Dunkley Park (s basin-like area) is to the south. Along the western edge of the <br />southern portion of the area is Sage Creek and its flood plain which contains an altered <br />vegetation community that supports livestock grazing. Intermittent drainages are <br />present throughout the project area with eastern drainage into Grassy Creek and the rest <br />accumulating in Sage Creek. Both Grassy and Sage creeks flow approximately seven <br />• miles north to the Yampa River. <br />7 <br />