The Uinta Basin Replacement Project, which was authorized by the Central Utah Project Completion Act, is located within Duchesne County near the towns of Altamont, Upalco, and Roosevelt, within the Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah. The Central Utah Water Conservancy District (District) is implementing the project. The Mitigation Commission is responsible for mitigating project impacts to fish, wildlife and wetland habitats. Funding for mitigation measures is provided under Title II of CUPCA through the U.S. Department of the Interior. The final Environmental Assessment was signed in October 2001 and project construction began in 2003.

The Project’s purpose is to provide additional early and late season irrigation water, provide municipal and industrial water supplies, and to modify and operate water management facilities for environmental purposes. This involves stabilizing thirteen high mountain lakes within the High Uintas Wilderness Area, constructing the new Big Sand Wash Feeder Diversion Structure and Pipeline, enlarging Big Sand Wash Reservoir, constructing a new Big Sand Wash-to-Roosevelt Pipeline, modifying the Moon Lake outlet works, and fish and wildlife mitigation and enhancement. Environmental needs include fishery resources that are depressed by widely fluctuating streamflows, dry damming, and recurring instream activities such as rebuilding irrigation diversions, channelization, and bank stabilization. [For more information, click here to link to the District’s web page].

The Mitigation Commission issued a Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact in February 2004 for implementing the fish and wildlife mitigation features of the Uinta Basin Replacement Project. The mitigation features are as follows:

• High Mountain Lakes Stabilization. Stabilization of thirteen high mountain lakes will provide constant lake water levels year-round. Nine of these lakes (Bluebell, Drift, Five Point, Superior, Water Lily, Farmers, East Timothy, White Miller, and Deer) are located in the Upper Yellowstone River watershed and four (Brown Duck, Island, Kidney and Clements) are in the Brown Duck Basin of upper Lake Fork watershed. Consequently, streamflows originating in these upper watersheds will then return to natural hydrologic runoff patterns, wilderness fishery and recreational values will be restored within the High Uintas, and operation and maintenance impacts will be eliminated in the wilderness area. Approximately 170 acres of mountain lake shorelines will be reclaimed and restored after the lakes are stabilized to constant elevations. [Click here to download the High Lakes Stabilization Swift Creek Drainage Lakes Technical Memorandum dated June 2006 (pdf 2,242 K)][Click here to download the Clements Lake Stabilization Technical Memorandum dated June 2007 (pdf 2,323 K)][Click here to download the Brown Duck and Island Lakes Stabilization Technical Memorandum dated January 2008 (pdf 13 MB)]

• Moon Lake Outlet Works Modifications. Minor modifications will be made to the Moon Lake Dam outlet works to facilitate the release of instream flows. Under the current operation, no water is released from Moon Lake Dam from October to April.

• Habitat Mitigation and Monitoring. The Mitigation Commission is responsible for wetlands mitigation and long-term maintenance and monitoring of the mitigation site.