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centers in the basin, each with just under 10,000 residents. Routt County grew by about <br />40 percent during the 1990's, with growth concentrated in the upper Yampa Valley near <br />Steamboat Springs. This growth attests to the importance of recreation-based activities, <br />as people are drawn to the basin by the ski area and other outdoor recreation <br />opportunities. <br />Principal water use in the basin is for irrigation, with hundreds of small irrigation ditches <br />diverting from the main stem and the numerous tributary streams throughout the basin. <br />The ditches irrigate pasture and hay and alfalfa crops primarily. The total irrigated <br />acreage in the basin within Colorado, according to the State's irrigated average <br />assessment of year 2000 imagery, is estimated to be approximately 89,800 acres. <br />Other major water uses include power generation at the Hayden Station and Craig Station <br />plants, which have historically diverted approximately 16,500 acre-feet per year. There <br />are also diversions for municipal use in Steamboat Springs and Craig, as well as in a <br />number of smaller towns. Technically, the largest municipal user is Cheyenne, Wyoming, <br />which exports approximately 14,400 acre-feet/year from the Little Snake drainage in <br />Wyoming to the North Platte basin. Within Colorado, three transbasin diversions, the <br />Sarvis Ditch, Stillwater Ditch, and Dome Creek Ditch export water from the Yampa <br />River basin to the Colorado River drainage. There are also a number of smaller transbasin <br />diversions from one tributary drainage to another. <br />In addition to the direct ditch diversions, there are nine major reservoirs (greater than <br />4,000 acre-feet in capacity) in the Yampa River basin within Colorado. Three of the <br />reservoirs are used for irrigation (Stillwater Reservoir No. 1, Allen Basin Reservoir, and <br />Yamcolo Reservoir); three are predominantly used for recreational and fishery purposes <br />(Lake Catamount, Pearl Lake, and Steamboat Lake); Fish Creek Reservoir serves <br />municipal use;and the remaining reservoirs are used for multiple uses, including <br />municipal, industrial, irrigation, and recreation (Stagecoach Reservoir, and Elkhead <br />Reservoir). High Savery Reservoir in Wyoming will begin filling in 2004 and will serve <br />irrigators in Wyoming. <br />1.3. Water resources development <br />The Yampa River basin has seen water resources developments in the form of private <br />irrigation systems, municipal and industrial diversions, and State-sponsored reservoir <br />development. Table 1.1 summarizes key developments within the basin over time. <br />Irrigation has remained relatively constant since the late 1800's, with only small <br />increases in the irrigated acreage as new ditches and storage systems were constructed. <br />The two earliest prof ects, Allen Basin and Stillwater Reservoirs, were built to relieve late <br />summer irrigation shortages in the headwaters of the Bear River. <br />Despite a general downturn in growth and economic activity in the Yampa Valley <br />following World War II, the 1950's saw development of the first significant municipal <br />Yampa River Basin Information 1.3 <br />