2008-05-12_PERMIT FILE - M2008030

Home Browse Search

:.t y, About 75 percent of the acreage of this soil is land that was once or is now used as nonirrigated cropland. In many areas, this land has been reseeded to grass or had been converted to irrigated cropland, pasture, or hayland. The rest of the acreage is rangeland. The potential native vegetation on this soil is dominantly prairie sandreed, sand bluestem, switchgrass, blue grama, and needleandthread. Continuous heavy grazing will cause sand bluestem, needleandthread, switchgrass, and prairie sandreed to decrease in the plant community, and blue grama. Sand sagebrush, and sand dropseed will increase. Extremely heavy use will cause annual weeds and grasses to invade. The range potential on this soil is can best be realized through sand sagebrush management, deferred grazing, and seeding, where needed. Badly depleted native grassland can be improved by interseeding. Nonirrigated cropland can be converted to grass by seeding with a mixture selected from the wheatgrasses, sand bluestem, switchgrass, and indiangrass. The clean, firm stubble of sorghum or millet, is suitable as a seedbed. For best results, seeding should take place in early spring. Capability subclass IIIe, nonirrigated and irrigated. The Valent sand, 1 to 9 percent slopes is deep, excessively drained soil on sandhills in the northeastern and southwestern parts of the county. It formed in eolian sand. The areas range to 1500 acres in size. Slopes are mainly 3 to 9 percent. Typically, the surface layer is grayish brown sand about 4 inches thick. The underlying material, to a depth of 40 inches or more, is pale brown sand. In places along the Arikaree River, the soil material above a depth of 40 inches is calcareous. Permeability is very rapid. The available water capacity is low. The effective rooting depth is more than 60inches. Surface runoff is slow. Water erosion is a slight hazard, and blowing is a severe hazard. More than 80 percent of the acreage of this map unit is native rangeland. The rest is irrigated cropland. Corn is the main crop. Other crops include grain sorghum, alfalfa, and pasture grasses. This soil is only marginally suited to cultivation because it is droughty and sol blowing is a severe hazard. The potential native vegetation on this soil is dominantly sand bluestem, needleandthread, prairie sandreed, and blue grama. If the range deteriorates, prairie sandreed, switchgrass, and sand bluestem decrease in number, and blue grama sand sagebrush, and yucca increase. Soil blowing is a hazard on overgrazed range. The main conservation practices on rangeland are sand sagebrush management, fencing, livestock water development, and deferred grazing. Capability subclass Vie, nonirrigated and IVe irrigated.