Record Details
page 1-17
Digital Collections at BYU
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | page 1-17 Finding of No Significant Impact Lake Fork Section 203 Alternative : Proposed Action, page 1-17 |
| Coverage | Electronic reproduction; |
| Format | 1-17 text/PDF |
| Rights | Brigham Young University; http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/generic.php Public Domain Public |
| Language | English; eng; en |
| Relation | Central Utah Project; Western Waters Digital Library; habitats and associated wildlife occurring in the uinta basin the most dramatic changes have occurred in two areas river floodplains flood plains and upland high deserts prior to settlement by european americans the natural upland vegetation of the uinta basin generally consisted of a variety of high desert shrub and shrub shrubgrass scrubgrass grass communities species composition varied considerably depending on elevation precipitation aspect and soil type the high desert of the project area was interrupted by two major drainages the lake fork and yellowstone rivers as well as several minor ones that drained the south slope of the uinta mountains the duchesne river drained the lower portion of the basin from west to east the upper portions of the lake fork and yellowstone rivers located on what is currently land managed by the FS consist of classic glacier formed U shaped valleys with fairly wide floodplains flood plains that confine the rivers and limit their lateral movement however channel movement within the floodplains flood plains was undoubtedly substantial over time wetlands and riparian communities probably were extensive and occurred across the entire floodplain flood plain as is is currently observed in these areas the riverwetlandriparian riverwetland river wetland riparian systems likely were very dynamic and the location and juxtaposition of cover types changed regularly especially following the larger spring runoff events A similar situation likely existed on the smaller drainages but to a lesser degree below the canyons the lake fork river floodplains flood plains were probably very wide historically with the river moving several n miles laterally over time wetland and riparian communities likely occurred across the miles wide floodplains flood plains because of the extensive channel movements and the very large amount of water moving through me the shallow groundwater system there is no specific record of the width of this rivers floodplains flood plains but it does not seem unreasonable given the magnitude of the runoff events that the area influenced by this river could have historically been from 1 up to 4 miles wide where there were multiple channels of course it is unlikely that all of the land within the area of influence was either wetland or riparian but these communities were probably quite extensive within the influence area river reaches probably were also very dynamic with new channels being formed and abandoned over time resulting in considerable changes in plant communities wetlands and riparian communities were undoubtedly extensive along the duchesne river as well four activities implemented following settlement of the uinta basin by european americans have probably had the greatest influence on the extent and quality of wetland and riparian comin communities unities associated with rivers and streams of the project area these include livestock grazing land conversion for agriculture water diversion and stream channelization livestock grazing has reduced the extent quality and diversity of presettlement wetland and riparian communities throughout the uinta basin through a variety of processes the other three activities have largely occurred below the mouths of river and stream canyons conversion diversion and channelization have substantially affected wetland and riparian communities by removing vegetation lowering water tables reducing shallow groundwater recharge and interfering with the dynamic processes required to maintain and perpetuate these communities the native upland vegetation of the uinta basin generally consisted of a variety of high desert shrub and shrubgrass scrubgrass shrub grass communities these areas have also been affected by the 117 1 17 |
| Identifier | http://cdm15999.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/WesternWatersProject/id/12134 |
