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SUNMARY SIlEET Yellow Jacket Unit Upper Colorado Resource Study Marcn .L;10V Page 1 of 2 LOCATION . The Yellow Jacket Unit is located in northwestern Colorado in the White and Yampa River Basins of the Upper Colorado River Basin. PURPOSE The unit would develop unused flows of the White River and Milk Creek, a tributary of the Yampa River for irrigation, municipal. and industrial use. It would also provide benefits for recreation, fish and wildlife, and flood control. STATUS The Yellow Jacket Unit was authorized for investi- gation as a potential participating project of the. Colorado River Storage Project Act of April 11. 1956 (Public Law 84-485). . Feasibility invest~gations for the Yellow Jacket Unit were initiated in 1961. A feasibility report was published in October 1968. Lack of agreement on the big ga~e provisions in the plan led to re- formulation of the plan and a second feasibility report dated April 1972. This second report also failed to reach mutual acceptance by landowners. fish and wildlife agencies, and others. . In accordance with the Principles and Standards for Planning Water and Related Land Resources. estab- lished on a Kational basis in 1973, a multiobjec- tive planning (NOP) team was organized in January 1975. and a new pr~ject plan is being developed by that team. The water-related problems and needs of the area nave been identified and the inventory of resoU~ces is nearing completion. Al- ternate plans have been developed and from these. a plan has been proposed as the most likely to fulfill the project purposes with the least environmental impatts. A progress report sum- marizing the planning to-date was published and distributed in May 1976. A supplement to this re- port was distributed in November 1976. In April 1976, the Yellow Jacket Project planning was incorporated in the Upper Colorado Resource ~t~~~ MILl( CR. CAliA I. ~.)l-,,"t1f'.''''~ ~!/I'b. /(ES lATERAL AXIAL ~~HFORTH THOhN8URGH RES. Study as the Yellow Jacket Unit. This broader study will identify reasonable alternatives to meet the following principal objectives: (1) provide the water requirements for the most likely and pro- jected levels of production of the oil shal~ tracts C-a and C-b in Colorado and U-a and U-b in Utah; (2) provide municipal wate~ needs of supporting populations in both states; (3) provide water for Group 6 and 7 lands of the Ute Tribe east of Ouray, Utah; (4) service reasonable acres of other irrig- able lands in both states; (5) enhance stream fisheries and recreational values; and (6) service other municipal and industtial uses as can be accotmlloda ted. The lack of interest or fibm commitments for indus- trial water at this time has made continuation of the studies questionable. An alternative has been selected to prepare a concluding (status) report preserving the data collected and make it available to all concerned while waiting on firm industrial water demands to develop. When these demands become firm, the study could be reauthorized and the planning continued. PLAN (MOP Compromise Alternative) Thornburgh Reservoir on Milk Creek would store sur- plus flows of that stream for irrigation and coal industry use. Releases would be made as needed directly to Milk Creek. Water for the coal industry would be available at any point downstream. Irriga- tion water would be diverted into the Milk Creek Canal about 4.5 miles downstream from the reservoir. Water for use in the White River Basin would be pro- vided by both storage and direct flows of the river as well as surplus flows of Big Beaver Creek. Storage would be provided by the Sawmill Mountain Reservoir to be constructed on Big Beaver Creek about 2 miles upstream from the existing Lake Avery, belonging to the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The storage. water and part of the direct flow water would be diverted from the North Fork of the White River, into the North Fork Feeder Conduit, by the North Fork Diversion Dam between Lost and Marvine Creeks. The North Fork Feeder Conduit would consist of 4.5 miles of bQried concrete pipe and the 4-mile-long Bob Raley Tunnel. I ... I , I . , _ _ i ___'--- _ _~'I'l1'e"-lItTY kV!'t..tO:lIl!JT_ , . --. !tloe..ANC~eOIl~1''' rCll..OW JACKET 1 L_" CONOU," ~ f + ;:.o~""'~-'~ SAWMIl.l. IJrN ,j ,I.!': ,,,.~.;) ~ fleS. ,.' M'lli.d, U<~~._'.'~'\ < $08 FlAur,~ I .....~~~~ ,~-' c~"]':t- [h:'" rf.'I/N€LJ%o. ~ . " Wlti/l'~ ..~?).....'..~ "':7;jo~Fl<.FtE/)EncoN/)IIIT \\"........ ~~.,..,~..~... ~ \ OAK RloGF A.U, /'1:. ~\..ti::: :)~' ';:000 uP''' CO'O"" '<5OU",< STUD' ~'.", ..,. -.. 4 5 YE~~OW JACKET UNIT . ----- No