8039

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8039
• Author: Upper Colorado River Commission.
• Title: Fifteenth Annual Report of the Upper Colorado River Commission.
• USFW Year: 1963.
• USFW - Doc Type: Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Copyright Material: NO

Construction of this project is scheduled for completion before
the start of the 1964 irrigation season.

Hammond Participating Project, New Mexico

Work on t.he principal features of the Hammond project had
been completed by June 30, 1962. These completed features include
the Hammond diversion dam on the San Juan River which will
divert natural streamflows into t.he 29-mile-Iong main canal. Addi-
tional const.ruction work remains on t.he laterals and the hydraulic
pumping plant.,

Complet.ion of t.he entire project except for minor cleanup ac-
tivities is scheduled for fiscal year 1963. Irrigation water was
available in limited amounts beginning with the 1962 irrigation
season.

Paonia Participating Project, Colorado

Construction of the Paonia Dam on the North Fork of the
Gunnison River was essentially completed early in 1962, and the
21 000 acre-foot Paonia Reservoir was filled during the spring
, . .
runoff. Paonia Dam is the main feature of the Paoma proJect,
which has the distinction of being the first participating unit of the
five-State Colorado River storage project to be placed in operation.
The completed portions of the project were turned over to the
North Fork Water Conservancy District on June 1, 1962, for
operation and maintenance. Other project features include the
Fire Mountain diversion dam and several miles of irrigation canal.

Seedskadee Participating Project, Wyoming

The principal features of the Seedskadee project are the
Fontenelle Dam and Reservoir on the Green River, a 10,000 kilo-
watt powerplant and switchyard, a system of canals, two pumping
plants, laterals and drainage facilities. Construction ~f the Fon-
tenelle Dam is 34 percent complete under a constructIOn contract
for $8,145,545 awarded in June 1961. Other construction activities
were directed mainly to construction of the Fontenelle community.

The community is essentially completed and includes housing,
both permanent and temporary, for about 30 Reclamation employ-
'ees and their families, along with shops, garages, an office, fire
station, and a laboratory. The permanent facilities will serve as
the project operation headquarters after completion of the project.

v

Smith Fork Participating Project, Colorado

The Crawford Dam on Iron Creek in west-central Colorado
is 88 percent completed at June 30, 1962. Construction is under-
way on the other project features including the Smith Fork diversion
dam which will divert surplus flows from the Smith Fork, a 2 %-
mile feeder canal to carry the surplus flow from the Smith Fork to
the reservoir, and a new 6,6-mile Aspen Canal to deliver the
water to the farmlands in the project area. Work on these features
is estimated 81 percent complete.

Initial storage of water is scheduled to begin in the fall of
1962, and irrigation water will be available in limited amounts
during the 1963 irrigation season.

Advance Planning Activities

Definite plan reports on the Silt participating project in
Colorado, the Emery County participating project in Utah, and
the economic justification report on Crystal Dam, reservoir, and
powerplant of the Curecanti unit were completed during the year.
Advance planning studies continued on the central Utah project
and in Wyoming on the Lyman project. Quality of water studies
were continued in the Upper Colorado River Basin as authorized
by law.

Fish and Wildlife Facilities

Fishery rehabilitation programs were initiated on the San
Juan and Green Rivers prior to closure of the Navajo and Flaming
Gorge Dams. The rough-fish eradication program for approximately
67 miles of the San Juan River and its tributaries was completed
in September 1961 in cooperation with both the Colorado and
New Mexico fish and game departments. Work was begun under
a $150,000 contract with the Utah and Wyoming fish and game
departments for a similar program in a 445-mile stretch of the
Green River and its tributaries. These measures are 'intended to
assure improved populations of game fish in the rivers and to
establish an optimum reservoir fishery during the initial years
of impoundment.

A contract was awarded in June for the installation of a pump
at the Stewart Lake State Waterfowl Refuge in Utah to replace
the source of water impaired by project operations.

Planning activities for future facilities, including appraisal of