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 Construction Report dated September 2008 (pdf 1,904 K); Click
here to download the Clements
Lake Stabilization Technical Memorandum dated
June 2007 (pdf 2,323 K); Click here to download the Clements Lake Construction Report dated October 2008 (pdf 2 MB); 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.
|