In this paper the institutional factors affecting water distribution in the Upper Colorado River Basin in general and the Uintah Basin are presented. The historical development of the appropriation doctrine of water allocation is outlined and Utah water policy is examined. These institutional factors are analyzed in light of the prototype oil shale development in the Unitah Basin and potential impact on the area's agricultural sector. Oil shale water estimates are compared with Uintah Basin water availability and examined with regard to population projections and municipal water use. Lastly, Utah water policy and the appropriation doctrine are viewed as restraints to efficient water transfers.

The Colorado River is subject to a salinity problem which affects the downstream user. It has been suggested that approximately 40% of the salinity in the Colorado River results from irrigation return flow. The evapotranspiration process extracts nearly pure water for plant use leaving behind soluable salts which may become part of the return flow. These salts adversely affect the orop yield for the downstream user. Farmers' contributions to the irrigation return flow have been criticized. With the criticisms have been many suggestions on salinity control, including restriction of salt outflow at the farm level through either voluntary or mandatory means. An important element in the policy making procedure is a good information base showing the economic effect of salinity control on the individual farm to which the control affects. To date such a base has not been available. Such an Information base is necessary to establish policies and implement programs to solve the salinity problem in the Colorado River.

Eriogonum corymbosum Benth. in DC is a low-growing perennial shrub which is found in many cold temperate desert shrub regions of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.. It is a species which grows on numerous soil types and/or geological formations. Specific objectives of the investigation were to study and describe certain community relationships of ten different plant communities where E. corymbosum was found. Each community was sampled to determine the amount of ground cover, percent composition, frequency, and density of each participating species. Physical site factors viz. soil texture, total soluble salts, pH, cation exchange capacity, and amount of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium were determined. The ten communities were compared to determine the degree of similarity existing between them. Correlations between individual plant species and measureable characteristics of the community were attempted. Evidence is presented that the distributional patterns of some species are related to these measured characteristics. Eriogonum corymbosum, Chenopodium leptophyllum, Atriplex confertifolia, Stipa comata, Artemisia tridentata, and Agropyron smithii all showed correlation to both vegetational and edaphic factors of the community. The sites studied showed definite increases in total vegetative cover from the desert areas to the mountainous areas of the Uintah Basin. As the vegetative cover increased, soil depth also generally increased. Eriogonum corymbosum was shown to decrease in importance in the communities

The California Quail is native to the coastal and semi-arid regions of California extending north into Oregon. Two subspecies are commonly recognized. the California Quail (Lophortyx californica brunnescens Ridgway), and the Valley Quail (Lophortyx californica californica Shaw) 0 The two forms are very similar in coloration and habits and, for the purpose of this study, no effort is made to distinguish the two.

Alfalfa is the most important forage crop in Utah. It is of particular importance to the Uintah Basin, Utah area where alfalfa hay and seed production are major sources of agricultural income. This crop owes much of its popularity to the fact that it will normally produce large yields of good forage on land which is unsuited to more intensive cultivation. In many cases it is impractical to advocate disease control practices which involve extra labor or expense and as a result most diseases of alfalfa, if controlled at all, are controlled by the use of resistant varieties. During the past few years alfalfa witches' broom has become detrimental in the Uintah Basin area. This disease shortens the length of life of alfalfa stands and reduces the yield. Some diseased stands are killed out in a period of three years. It is difficult and expensive to reestablish alfalfa in this area where water supplies are usually low. Therefore, it is imperative that alfalfa stands remain in production for several years. These problems justify a study to find resistance to alfalfa witches' broom. The objectives of this study are to select varieties of alfalfa which are resistant to alfalfa witches' broom in the Uintah Basin area, to select varieties of alfalfa which are best adapted to the area for high yield per acre, to determine which of a few insects tested are responsible for transmission of alfalfa witches' broom virus, and to determine if certain dodder species (Cuscuta spp.) act as transmission bridges for alfalfa witches' broom.

The ecology and taxonomy of the snowbank fleshy fungi in the vicinity of Mirror Lake, Uinta Mountains, Utah were investigated during 1963, 1964, and 1965. A total of 59 speciaes, representing the Agaricales, Polyporales, Thelephorales, Gastromycestes, Myxomycetes, Dacrymycetales, and Ascomycetes, were found associated with the snowbanks. Four of these species (Geupiniopsis alpinus, Polyporus alboluteus, Polyporus leucospongia and Sterile myclium I) have presence percentages of 100% and three (Stereum Rugisporum, Dasyscypha arida and Herpotichia nigra) had presence percentages of 90%. The lignicolous fungi were found to be more frequent around the snowbanks than either the terrestrial or coprophilous fungi. No fleshy fungi were found fruiting in association with the snowbanks in wet meadows. All terrestrial fungi found in association with the snowbanks were found either around snowbanks in the forest or in the transitional zone between the forest and the wet meadows. Twenty-two species began their development under the snow. Sporocarps kept buried in the snow did not develop a mature hymenium while in the snow, whereas similar sporocarps where the snow was allowed to melt developed mature hymenia in the same period of time.

The object of this study was to determine whether or not Lodgepole pine is successfully invading meadows near ponds in the western Uinta Mountains as a preliminary step to the invasion of the Spruce-Fir climax forest. Line transects were established at three sites near Trial Lake extending from forest to wet meadow. Along these transects the soil was studied to determine percent organic matter, pH, depth to mineral soil, and texture. Also the depth of the water table was measured and the topography plotted. The age and size of the trees along the transect was determined, and the extent of some root systems was noted. Conifers found growing in the dry meadow were stunted and no conifers were found growing on peat deposits over 17 inches. The water table was found within about 8 inches of the surface and the soil conditions suggested poor aeration. The combination of peat and high water level accounted for the stunting of the trees. The trees were apparently unable to convert the dry meadow to forest and thus, the climax for hydrarch succession in this area is a meadow vegetation of grasses and sedges instead of the conifer forest.

A taxonomic and ecological survey of the algae of Lilly Lake in the Uinta Mountains, Utah, was carried on from June 1967 to November 1967. The lake is a typical acid bog lake with an average pH range of 4.5 to 6.9. Extremes of pH in the alkaline range were present due to additional factors. Algae identified included 96 genera and 208 species. These were found in many different types of microenvironmental niches. The main factors which limited the algae to definite areas of the lake were pH, water temperature, light available, and type of substrate. The predominant algal genera uresent in all parts of the lake at all times of the growing season were Scenedesmus, Pediastrum, Microcystis, Aphanocapsa, Sphaerocystis, Spirogyra, desmids, and diatoms. Algae that thrived only under cold water, acid conditions were Eunotia., Culinclrocystis, Euglena, and Chlamydomonas. Genera that grew abundantly when the pH increased to the alkaline range were Dictyosphaerium, Lepocinclis, Phacus, Synura, Pandorina, and Trachelomonas. The most dominant genus in the center stations of the lake was Chara. Fishing and resultant pollution of the marginal waters caused large, bright green blooms of Spirogyra. Algae that appeared in greatly disturbed areas were Closterium and Oscillatoria. Planktonic algae or drifters were not present floating in the water but did occur in the marginal areas where seepage provided necessary nutrients.