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<br />NA VAJO - As a result of the above average snowpack and continued precipitation in the forecast, <br />the Bureau of Reclamation will be increasing the release from Navajo Reservoir from 250 cubic feet <br />per second (cfs) to 350 cfs at 9:00 am on Thursday, February 24,2005. Releases are made for the <br />authorized purposes of the Navajo Unit, and to attempt to maintain a target base flow through the <br />endangered fish critical habitat reach of the San Juan River (Farmington to Lake Powell). The <br />release will remain at 350 cfs until further notice. <br /> <br />Reclamation will continue to closely monitor the hydrologic conditions in the basin. As such, this <br />scheduled release change is subject to changes in river flows and weather conditions. <br /> <br />The current hydrologic conditions continue to be wet. As of March 8, 2005, the upper San Juan <br />basin snowpack stood at 156 percent of average and 158 percent of average for the Animas River <br />basin. Precipitation for the month of February was recorded at 150 percent of average, which <br />resulted in another month of above normal inflow into Navajo Reservoir. Unregulated inflow was <br />72,000 acre-feet, or 239 percent of average for February. This raised the elevation ofthe reservoir <br />7.16 feet during the month. Currently, the daily reservoir inflow is averaging about 1,500 cfs and <br />reservoir releases are set at 350 cfs. The reservoir water surface elevation is 6040.69 feet, which <br />corresponds to a storage content of about 1,120,000 acre-feet. <br /> <br />On March 2, 2005, the National Weather Service's River Forecast Center issued an updated <br />unregulated inflow forecast for Navajo Reservoir for the April through July runoff period. This <br />forecast is projecting a volume runoff into the reservoir of 1,280,000 acre-feet, which represents a <br />160 percent of normal runoff for the upper San Juan Basin. The reservoir is projected to fill, while <br />also providing the maximum spring release rates (21 days at 5,000 cfs) for endangered fish as <br />determined by the Flow Recommendations. There would be no shortages to Navajo Reservoir water <br />contract users using this forecast. <br /> <br />A public meeting on Navajo Reservoir operations will be held on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at 1:00 <br />p.m. in Farmington, New Mexico. At this meeting, review of last fall and winter reservoir <br />operations, and plans for spring and summer 2005 operations will be discussed. These are open <br />forum discussions on the operation of Navajo Reservoir with many interested groups participating. <br />Anyone interested in the general operation of the reservoir is encouraged to attend. Please contact <br />Pat Page in Reclamation's Durango, Colorado Office at (970) 385-6560 for information about these <br />meetings or the daily operation of Navajo Reservoir. <br /> <br />LAKE POWELL <br /> <br />Glen Canyon Dam Operations - Experimental Releases <br /> <br />Daily high fluctuating releases from Glen Canyon Dam, as part ofthe Glen Canyon Dam <br />experimental flows, are being implemented from January 2,2005 through the first week of April <br />2005. On Mondays through Saturdays, releases will range between 5,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) <br />and 20,000 cfs. The 20,000 cfs release will be maintained for about 11 hours (from 9:00 am until <br />about 8:00 PM) and the 5,000 cfs release will be maintained for about 6 hours (from 1 :00 am until <br />about 7:00 am). The other hours are transitional, where releases will be between the daily high and <br />the daily low. Releases on Sundays will range between a low of about 5,000 cfs to a high of about <br />8,000 cfs.m <br />The January through March high fluctuating releases are intended to benefit the endangered <br />humpback chub. These flows helped keep the non-native fish, especially the rainbow and brown <br /> <br />