9605

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9605
• Author: Schmidt, J. C. and e. al.
• Title: Flow Recommendations for the White River, Utah-Colorado Draft Report.
• USFW Year: 2002.
• USFW - Doc Type: Logan, UT.
• Copyright Material: NO

habitat diversity. Specifically, we wanted to 1) determine what discharges are necessary

to mobilize the bed and, thereby, remove fine-grained sediments from gravel deposits

and maintain gravel looseness, and 2) identify what discharges transport the majority of

the sediment load and are responsible for maintaining channel form.

Overview of the White River and Description of the Study Site

The White River basin is in northwest Colorado and northeast Utah (Figure A-I).

The basin is south from the Yampa River basin, and north from the Colorado River. The

White River originates in the Flat Top mountains of western Colorado at an elevation of

approximately 3600 m. From its sources, the river flows westward for approximately

25'0 rm, and has incised shallow canyons through predominantly Tertiary sediments of

the Unita and Green River formations. The river joins the Green River in the central

Uinta Basin several miles downstream from the confluence of the Green and Duchesne

Rivers. The channel has migrated across its valley, and oxbow lakes and the concentric

patterns characteristic of migrating channels are present in many reaches (Figure A-2).

The principal water use in the White River basin is irrigation. Non-agricultural

diversions are made by the towns of Rangely and Meeker. Combined agricultural and

non-agricultural water depletions in the White River basin are approximately 304,000

acre-feet. Average annual streamflow in the White River at the Colorado-Utah state line

is about 595,100 acre-feet.

Taylor Draw Dam (Figure A-3) was completed in 1984, and is located in

northwestern Colorado at approximately rm 104, as measured upstream from the

confluence with the Green River. Taylor Draw Reservoir has a storage volume of 13,800
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