WSP03164

• Author: USFWS
• Title: Management Plan for Endangered Fishes in the Yampa River Basin - Volume II -Appendices - USFWS - 09-01-2004

00263)

August 23, 2000

page 5

improvement, and wildlife enhancement. The study resulted in a list of 12 reservoir sites to be
considered for Level 1lI design and construction funding. Currently, one reservoir is slated for
construction with a second dependent on the availability of funding. For this estimate, the two slated for
construction funding are considered as existing depletions, and the remaining ten considered as adding
depletions for the 2045 scenario.

The two impoundments under existing funding are Ketchum Buttes 25 and Smiley Draw 27. State
Engineer records indicate reservoir surface areas of 10.6 and 8.9 acres, respectively. Assuming a net
evaporation of 30 inches (same as High Savery Dam, considered as representative), the total depletions
for these impoundments average 49 acre-feet per year (27 and 22 acre-feet, respectively).

The 10 impoundments for possible future construction are as follows:

Reservoir
Blue Gap 16
Blue Gap 27
Browns Hill 21
Garden Gulch 3
Garden Gulch 32
Ketcham Buttes 34
Peach Orchard Flat 34
Pine Grove Ranch 1
Pole Gulch 27
Riner 28

Surface Area. ac.
50.1
14.6
2.9
2.8
19.9
5.5
88.6
7.7
0.7
52.2

Depletion, acre-feet
125
37
7
7
50
14
222
19
2
131

Total

614

Agricultural Uses

Miscellaneous Slock Reservoirs

The Little Snake River Conservation District has indicated that due to siltation and other causes of loss,
stock reservoirs are being replaced and will continue to be replaced over the next 45 years. Hundreds of
stock reservoirs currently exist in the basin, and at the rate of five per year over 200 new ponds will be
constructed by 2045. These new ponds will vary in size, and it is estimated that up to 2,000 acre-feet of
depletion will be attributable to their construction and storage.

Dolan Mesa Canal

Currently there is a water right and one enlargement for an irrigation supply project from Savery Creek,
the Dolan Mesa Canal. Together, these rights are permitted to serve 1,600 acres. The lands are
currently not irrigated, but the possibility exists that current or subsequent owners may try to bring the
lands under irrigation. If all 1,600 acres were irrigated, depletion estimates (using 1.66 feet of CIR)
would total 2,656 acre-feet.

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Appendix C - Technical Memoranda from Colorado and Wyoming

C-9