| OCR Text |
Show 11 widely spaced pinyon and juniper trees, often occurring in open savannahs with grasses and herbs. Valley bottoms at these elevations are associated with a vegetative community consisting of a well developed grassland. Some of the grassland on the Zuni Indian Reservation, degraded by overgrazing in the twentieth century, has been invaded by shrubs such as sage and rabbitbrush, and by pinyon-juniper woodland. Parts of the Zuni River and other major water courses on the reservation are associated with a vegetative community consisting of a riparian woodland characterized by Cottonwood and willow trees. Climate The semi-arid and temperate climate of the Zuni Indian Reservation has two key components: precipitation and temperature. Precipitation, occurring mainly in the form of rain and snow, averages 301 mm (11.9 in) annually, with a standard deviation of 85 mm (3.3 in).1 2 Forty to fifty percent of the precipitation on the reservation falls in the months of July, August, and September in the form of late afternoon thundershowers. These summer showers are often very localized, 10 repo Affa Prog Abee 11 12 Zuni Ariz Al Abee, "Rangeland and Livestock Management," (unpublished rt prepared by the Range Conservationist, Bureau of Indian irs, Zuni Agency, 1978, ms on file at the Zuni Archaeology ram, Pueblo of Zuni), pp. 1-3. (Hereinafter referred to as , "Rangeland and Livestock Management.) Ferguson and Hart, A Zuni Atlas, pp. 12-13. P- 9 Preh Keith Kintigh, "Settlement, Subsistence and Society in Late Prehistory," (Anthropological Papers of the University of ona, Number 44, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1985), 2. (Hereinafter referred to as Kintigh, "Late Zuni istory".) |
