Laserfiche WebLink
.I <br />a r <br />The Yampa River is the only major river in the Upper Colorado River Basin which <br />has not been substantially altered by water resource development projects. One <br />of the Fish and Wildlife Service data needs for recovering threatened and <br />endangered fish species in the Yampa and Green River systems is the <br />identification of flow regimes necessary to protect spawning and other habitats <br />in the Yampa Canyon. Changes in channel morphology resulting from altered flow <br />and sediment regimes have been identified as a primary concern. <br />This report is an attempt to 'pull together' the number of basin wide and site <br />specific investigations of the Yampa River and identify flow regimes required <br />to prevent adverse changes in channel morphology, primarily from altered <br />sediment transport. <br />Previous studies in the Yampa River basin have concentrated in three areas: <br />1) Basin wide studies of sediment/water distribution and channel dimensions. <br />Portions of studies conducted on the Green River are also relevant. <br />2) Sediment sampling, modeling, and sediment budget studies conducted in the <br />Yampa Canyon between Harding Hole and Warm Springs Lake (Mathers Hole <br />area). <br />3) Sediment sampling and budget studies conducted at the Deerlodge Park reach. <br />SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS STUDIES <br />Andrews (1978) compiled average annual suspended sediment loads and estimated <br />total sediment loads for 18 sites in the Yampa Basin. Probable impacts of coal <br />surface mining development upon sediment yield were evaluated. Initially, <br />suspended sediment transport curves and bedload transport curves were developed <br />separately, then combined into one relation. Suspended sediment measurements <br />collected at the sites were used to develop the suspended sediment transport <br />curves while the bedload curves were developed using the Meyer-Peter and <br />Mueller (1948) equation. <br />Estimated annual suspended and annual total sediment transport for the <br />principal stations are shown in Table 1. Andrews estimated the uncertainty of <br />the computed loads at 'perhaps 10 to 20 percent'.