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Show PART II NATURE, USE AND MANAGEMENT OF WATERSHED LAND The majority of high elevation lands and areas of relatively high precipitation, as well as most of the forested area, are in national forest status. The lands are characterized by steep mountain slopes, interspersed parks, and narrow valleys. Continuity of holdings within the national forests is greater than in most other ownerships. Because these lands are under one management with multiple use administration, watershed management programs can have more continuity and are easier to coordinate and accelerate. Range-type vegetation predominates on the 29 million acres of public domain administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). There are few areas of high water yield because these lands are generally at lower elevations than the national forests and have less precipitation. Past land disposal programs have produced a complex intermingling of the public domain with private and state-owned land. The administrative structure of BLM provides the same advantages as does the Forest Service (FS), but land management is impaired by non- contiguous ownership. Programs for watershed management and administration of resource uses benefit from coordination among the intermingled owners. The public domain land offer a good opportunity for reduction in sediment yields, reduction in the salt loads of surface waters, and lowered flood crests. There are 10.7 million acres of Indian land, mostly in the San Juan- Colorado Subregion. These lands are somewhat comparable to the public domain lands in physical character. The myriad of Indian livestock operations and innate cultural barriers produce some complex watershed management problems. Coordination of range and watershed management systems by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has proved to be extremely difficult and has not always achieved maximum effectiveness. The privately owned land, other than Indian Trust land, make up 14.3 million acres. This ownership includes most of the land located in valleys and near streams. The private rangeland is generally equiv- alent in character to the public domain rangeland. There are 2,572,900 acres of cropland in the region (including both private and Indian Trust lands) of which 1,621,500 is irrigated cropland, 603,400 is dry cropland, and 348,000 is dry pasture. The location of irrigated lands at lower elevations and in valleys causes them to be subject to the greatest amount of flood and sediment damage. The noncontiguous land ownership pattern of the private land complicates watershed management. Detailed coordina- tion among the intermingled owners is needed for watershed management. Benefits to be derived from watershed management practices are erosion control, reduced sediment yields, improved water quality, flood control protection for irrigation facilities, better irrigation practices, and increased crop yields. The remaining 4.8 million acres within the region is shared between numerous owners such as the states, counties, municipalities, National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and Department of Defense. These 13 |