Flaming Gorge Dam
| Flaming Gorge Dam | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | Daggett County, Utah |
| Coordinates | 40°54′52″N 109°25′17″W / 40.91444°N 109.42139°WCoordinates: 40°54′52″N 109°25′17″W / 40.91444°N 109.42139°W |
| Construction began | 1958 |
| Opening date | 1964 |
| Owner(s) | U.S. Bureau of Reclamation |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Concrete thin arch |
| Impounds | Green River |
| Height | 502 ft (153 m) |
| Length | 1,285 ft (392 m) |
| Elevation at crest | 6,047 ft (1,843 m) |
| Spillways | Gated concrete tunnel |
| Spillway capacity | 28,800 cu ft/s (820 m3/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Flaming Gorge Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 3,788,700 acre·ft (4.6733 km3) |
| Catchment area | 15,000 sq mi (39,000 km2) |
| Surface area | 42,020 acres (17,000 ha) |
| Normal elevation | 6,040 ft (1,840 m) |
| Power station | |
| Hydraulic head | 400 ft (120 m) |
| Turbines | 3x Francis |
| Installed capacity | 151.95 MW |
| Annual generation | 344,369,058 KWh |
The Flaming Gorge Dam is a concrete thin-arch dam on the Green River, a major tributary of the Colorado River, in northern Utah in the United States. Flaming Gorge Dam forms the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which extends 91 miles (146 km) into southern Wyoming, submerging four distinct gorges of the Green River. The dam is a major component of the Colorado River Storage Project, which stores and distributes upper Colorado River Basin water.
The dam takes its name from a nearby section of the Green River canyon, named by John Wesley Powell in 1869. It was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation between 1958 and 1964. The dam is 502 feet (153 m) high and 1,285 feet (392 m) long, and its reservoir has a capacity of more than 3.7 million acre feet (4.6 km3), or about twice the annual flow of the upper Green. Operated to provide long-term storage for downstream water-rights commitments, the dam is also a major source of hydroelectricity and is the main flood-control facility for the Green River system.
The dam and reservoir have fragmented the upper Green River, blocking fish migration and significantly impacting many native species. Water released from the dam is generally cold and clear, as compared to the river's natural warm and silty flow, further changing the local riverine ecology. However, the cold water from Flaming Gorge has transformed about 28 miles (45 km) of the Green into a "Blue Ribbon Trout Fishery". The Flaming Gorge Reservoir, largely situated in Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, is also considered one of Utah and Wyoming's greatest fisheries.
Contrary to its namesake, Flaming Gorge, the dam actually lies in steep, rapid-strewn Red Canyon in northeastern Utah, close to where the Green River cuts through the Uinta Mountains. The canyon for which the dam is named for is buried under the reservoir, almost 20 miles (32 km) upstream. Red Canyon is the narrowest and deepest of the four on the Green in the area (Horseshoe, Kingfisher, Red and Flaming Gorge) which made it the best site for the building of a dam. Flaming Gorge, on the other hand, was named by John Wesley Powell on his 1869 expedition down the Green and Colorado rivers for the "brilliant, flaming red of its rocks [when the sun shone upon them]."
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