Excerpts: The Silt project is located in southeastern Garfield County, Colorado. Elevation of project lands varies from 5,500 to 6,300 feet. The climate is semi-arid. Average annual precipitation approximates 11 inches. The Silt project will furnish supplemental irrigation water for 4,479 acres of land presently irrigated with only a partial water supply and 2,118 acres of non-irrigated land. In addition, 244 acres of Bureau of Reclamation class 4 land and 226 acres of class 6W presently irrigated land will continue to receive their present water supplies. The Department of Agriculture survey was made under the authority of Section 6, Public Law 566, 83rd Congress, as amended, which authorizes the Department to cooperate with other Federal, State and local agencies to make investigations and surveys of the watersheds of rivers as a basis for the development of coordinated programs. The economic analysis of the proposed Silt irrigation project has two primary objectives: (1) an appraisal of direct agricultural benefits from project development, and (2) an appraisal of prospective farm incomes from representative sizes and types of farms considered most likely with the proposed irrigation development. Farm incomes were estimated for five farm types, namely: range beef, grade-A dairy, feeder calves, farm flock of sheep, and cash-crop.
