2012-02-17_PERMIT FILE - M2012004 (2)

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• • USGS SOIL INFORMATION 51 - Peetz gravelly sandy loam, 5 to 20 percent slopes. This deep, somewhat excessively drained soil is on backslopes and shoulders of moderately dissected to highly dissected upland ridges and breaks. It formed in calcareous gravelly alluvium. Slopes are convex. Areas are nearly linear in shape and are 20 to 1,000 acres in size. Typically, 15 to 35 percent of the surface is covered with gravel and cobbles. Typically, the upper part of the surface layer is grayish brown gravelly sandy loan 4 inches thick, and the lower part is brown very gravelly loamy sand 4 inches thick. The underlying material to a depth of 60 inches or more is calcareous very gravelly sand. • Included in this unit are small areas of Altvan sandy loam on the tops of upland ridges and breaks; Rock outcrop on shoulders of upland ridges and breaks; Bushman fine sandy loan on backslopes and foot slopes of upland ridges and breaks; and Ascalon fine sandy loan and Wages fine sandy loam on foot slopes of upland ridges and breaks. Included areas make up about 20 percent of the total acreage. Permeability of this Peetz soil is rapid. Available water capacity is moderate. Effective rooting depth is 60 inches or more. Runoff is slow, and the hazard of water erosion is high to very high. The hazard of soil blowing is slight. Most areas of this unit are used as rangeland. A few areas are used as a source of gravel. The potential plant community on this unit is mainly blue grama, little blue stem, sideoats grama, and prairie sandreed. The average annual production of air -dry vegetation ranges from 500 to 1,200 pounds. If the range is overgrazed, the proportion of preferred forage plants decreases and the proportion of less preferred forage plants increases. Therefore, livestock grazing should be managed so that the desired balance of preferred species is maintained in the plant community.