Yellowtail Dam
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Yellowtail Dam is a dam across the
The project was the result of negotiations between the federal government and the
History
Planning
In the early 20th century, the population of the
Construction of the Yellowtail Dam was authorized by the Flood Control Act on December 22, 1944 as part of the
The dam is named after Robert Yellowtail, chairman of the tribe during the 1940s. Yellowtail was one of the main opponents of the dam and also protested when the tribe decided to sell the dam site to the federal government. For a while, the Crow Nation considered leasing the land to the government for fifty years at a rate of $1,000,000 per year. The arguments deeply divided the tribe, causing them to separate into two factions, the Mountain Crows, which backed Yellowtail and opposed the dam, and the River Crows, which supported the dam. Eventually, the land was sold for $2.5 million, and controversy continued for years afterward.[5][6]
Construction
Boise, Idaho based
Characteristics
Dam and reservoir
The Yellowtail Dam is a concrete thin-arch dam 525 feet (160 m) high and 1,480 feet (450 m) long, containing 1,545,664 cubic yards (1,181,745 m3) of material. The crest of the dam lies 3,660 feet (1,120 m) above sea level.
Bighorn Lake is the reservoir formed behind the dam, and has a capacity of 1,381,189 acre-feet (1.703672×109 m3) of water.[11] At normal storage the reservoir covers 17,300 acres (70 km2), extending over 70 miles (110 km) upstream.[9] The lake is long and narrow, except for the uppermost section near Kane, Wyoming where it broadens to about 2 miles (3.2 km). Aside from the Bighorn River the reservoir is also fed by the Shoshone River, Porcupine Creek, Dry Head Creek, Big Bull Elk Creek, Black Canyon Creek, and smaller tributaries.[12]
Power generation
The dam's hydroelectric plant is located at the base and has a capacity of 250 MW. The plant has four
Spillway
To pass flood waters the Yellowtail Dam is equipped with a tunnel spillway on the left side, capable of handling 92,000 cubic feet per second (2,600 m3/s). The spillway is controlled by a pair of
In 1967, heavy snowmelt in the Bighorn River basin caused the reservoir to rise to record levels. Reclamation opened the spillway of the dam for twenty consecutive days in June and July of that year. However, the design of the spillway tunnel was flawed, causing severe cavitation of the concrete, leading to the formation of a hole the size of an eighteen-wheeler in the concrete lining. The resulting repairs and retrofits to the spillway were the vital predecessor to the repair work to dams such as Hoover, Glen Canyon and Flaming Gorge that would follow severe floods in 1983 in the Colorado River basin.[14][15]
Recreation
Although unplanned for, by regulating the flow of the Bighorn River and releasing cooler water from the bottom of Bighorn Lake, the Yellowtail Dam has created one of the finest wild trout fisheries in the United States in the slightly more than 110 miles (180 km) of river downstream.[4][16] However, the dam has significantly changed the native riverine habitat downstream as well – cutting off the supply of sediments, which once created islands and sandbars in the Bighorn's winding lower course. Nevertheless, the combination of cold, fast-flowing water and abundant nutrients creates an ideal trout habitat; the average length of a trout caught in the lower Bighorn is 14 inches (36 cm), while the record was a 16-pound (7.3 kg) rainbow trout 29 inches (74 cm) long.[17]
In recent years there has been controversy between Montana and Wyoming over whether more water should be kept in Bighorn Lake for boating and water-skiing uses (almost two-thirds of the surface area of Bighorn Lake is in Wyoming), or released from the dam to maintain the trout fishery downstream. Because of a long and ongoing drought in the western United States, Reclamation has reduced the amount of water below the Yellowtail Dam from 2,500 cubic feet per second (71 m3/s) to 2,000 cubic feet per second (57 m3/s). The lower flows have led to unhealthy trout populations in turn causing the fishing industry on the lower Bighorn to decline by over 40 percent. However, low water levels in the lake have caused recreational usage in Wyoming to drop more than 60%. In an attempt to reduce tensions between the two states Reclamation has agreed to keep the lake at a higher level while maintaining at least 1,500 cubic feet per second (42 m3/s) of flow below the dam.[2][16][18]
See also
- Bighorn Basin
- Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area topics
- List of reservoirs and dams in the United States
References
- ^ Holmes, Walter and Dailey, p. 398
- ^ a b Stark, Mike (2008-02-18). "40 years old, Yellowtail Dam still hums". mtstandard.com. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ "Yellowtail Dam". Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, Yellowtail Unit. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2010-08-10. Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ a b c d "Yellowtail Dam". Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. U.S. National Park Service. 2010-05-21. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ Edmunds, pp. 72-75
- ^ Holmes, Walter and Dailey, p. 399
- ^ Staff (May 1963). "8 Great Projects Make Construction History". The Em-Kayan. 22 (3): 6–8.
- ^ a b "Yellowtail Afterbay Dam". Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, Yellowtail Unit. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2010-08-10. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ a b "Yellowtail Unit". Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2010-08-03. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ "Yellowtail Dam-Dimensions". Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, Yellowtail Unit. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2010-08-10. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ a b "Yellowtail Dam-Hydrailics & Hydrology". Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, Yellowtail Unit. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2010-08-10. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ USGS Topo Maps for United States (Map). Cartography by United States Geological Survey. ACME Mapper. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ "Yellowtail Powerplant". Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, Yellowtail Unit. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
- ^ Powell, pp. 10-11
- ^ "Flaming Gorge Dam Spillway Tunnel Repairs". Upper Colorado Region. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2009-08-28. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
- ^ a b Maffly, Brian (2007). "Battle on the Bighorn: Holding back water for Bighorn Lake recreation could doom the world-class trout fishery downstream". Montana Outdoors. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
- ^ Fischer and Fischer, pp. 31-32
- ^ French, Brett (2010-09-29). "New plan soothes Bighorn water worries". Billings Gazette. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
Works cited
- Edmunds, R. David (2004). The New Warriors: Native American Leaders since 1900. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-6751-7. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
- Fischer, Hank; Fischer, Carol (2008). Paddling Montana. Globe Pequot. ISBN 978-0-7627-4352-0. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
- Holmes, Krys; Walter, Dave; Dailey, Susan C. (2008). Montana: Stories of the Land. Montana Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-9759196-3-7. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
- Powell, James Lawrence (2008). Dead pool: Lake Powell, global warming, and the future of water in the west. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25477-0. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
Dead pool: Lake Powell, global warming, and the future of water in the west.
External links
- Series 29: Yellowtail Dam #1. "Eloise Whitebear Pease Collection Inventory". Library @ Little Big Horn College. Retrieved 2013-01-17.