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Show PARC V REGIONAL NEEDS AND DMANDS conversions will be required for urban, industrial, transportation, utili- ties, fish and wildlife, recreation, minerals, irrigation, and reservoir sites. Much of the dry cropland suffers from lack of dependable moisture, poor soil, or erosion. Proper management practices, or shifting to cover crops, may alleviate some of these problems. About 95,000 acres of the 603,000 present acres are required for irrigation and 5,000 acres will be lost to other uses or inundation by reservoirs. Watershed Management Significant upstream watershed problems causing $8.7 million annual damage in I965 are erosion, flood and sediment, and fire. Damages result- ing from upstream watershed problems are those that occur in tributary areas of 250,000 acres (400 square miles) or less. Erosion, the major problem affecting 30. 5 million acres, causes $6.7 million annual damages. Upstream flood and sediment damages of $L.k million affect about 0.4 mil- lion acres (these damages are also included in the following flood con- trol section). Fire causes damage of $0.6 million in the region. Aver- age annual damages will increase from $8.7 million to $25.6 million by 2020 if no additional watershed protection programs are instituted after 1965. Aerial view of flooding of Gunnison River near Delta, Colorado. Other needs include managing and developing the watershed to permit more multiple use for grazing, recreation, timber production, and fish and wildlife purposes. In addition to the increased land uses it is |