Flaming Gorge falls as drought felt higher up Colorado River
A boating and fishing paradise on the Utah-Wyoming line is beginning to feel the effects of the two-decade megadrought gripping the southwestern U.S. Until now, Flaming Gorge Reservoir hasn't seen anything like the low water that has drastically shrunk Lake Mead near Las Vegas and Lake Powell in Arizona and Utah
FLAMING GORGE RESERVOIR, Wyo. (AP) — Tony Valdez wasn't worried about being left high and dry when he bought Buckboard Marina three years ago, but that's changed with the receding waters of Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
This year, he has already dredged 10 feet (3 meters) so boats could still use the marina. Now, with Flaming Gorge becoming a crucial emergency water supply for the region, Valdez worries the reservoir has nowhere to go but lower still.
“I mean, this is our natural resource and it’s going away,” he said. “Water is the most precious thing we have.”
As a 20-year drought creeps ever farther up the Colorado River Basin and seven Western states vie for their fair share of water under the century-old Colorado River Compact, this boating and fishing paradise on the Wyoming-Utah line is a new flashpoint.
