Flaming Gorge Dam

Flaming Gorge Dam
Location	Daggett County, Utah
Coordinates	40°54′52″N 109°25′17″W / 40.91444°N 109.42139°W / 40.91444; -109.42139
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)[1]
Length	1,285 ft (392 m)[1]
Elevation at crest	6,047 ft (1,843 m)[1]
Spillways	Gated concrete tunnel
Spillway capacity	28,800 cu ft/s (820 m3/s)[2]
Reservoir
Creates	Flaming Gorge Reservoir
Total capacity	3,788,700 acre⋅ft (4.6733 km3)[2]
Catchment area	15,000 sq mi (39,000 km2)
Surface area	42,020 acres (17,000 ha)[2]
Normal elevation	6,040 ft (1,840 m)[1]
Power Station
Hydraulic head	400 ft (120 m)[3]
Turbines	3x Francis[3]
Installed capacity	151.95 MW[3]
Annual generation	344,369,058 KWh

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 naturally 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".^{[citation needed]} The Flaming Gorge Reservoir, largely situated in Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, is also considered one of Utah and Wyoming's greatest fisheries.