Steve Wyant releases a brown trout he caught in the Yampa River in March just below Stagecoach Reservoir. (Photo by Dylan Anderson)
With multiple area agricultural reservoirs at extreme lows and some predicted to drop to only streams running through reservoir basins by fall, some fish populations could be threatened during this time of drought.
“If reservoir levels get very low, fish survival may come into question, and fish loss could occur,” said Colorado Parks and Wildlife aquatic biologist Bill Atkinson.
Fish in agricultural reservoirs may escape downstream through outlets as water levels drop, and fish may survive in lower-level waters remaining in reservoirs, Atkinson said.
The long concrete boat ramp at Yamcolo Reservoir is normally mostly underwater in early summer, but this dry year, the ramp never opened. Shown July 3, the bottom of the ramp is already about 60 yards distant from the water level. Photo by Suzie Romig
Recreating on reservoirs or camping near a picturesque lake this summer in a time of extreme drought in Northwest Colorado may require more forethought than a glance at a map. Multiple agricultural use reservoirs in and near Routt County have already dropped to extremely low levels much earlier than in past years.
Local water officials say some key agricultural-use reservoirs, such as Stillwater Reservoir, which serves South Routt County ranchers, only filled to 34% of its acre-feet capacity this year. In other words, the reservoir started the summer as low as it normally is in the fall following the irrigation season, said Andi Schaffner, secretary for reservoir owner Bear River Reservoir Co. Schaffner, a Yampa resident, said 129-acr
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