Eagle Nest Lodge

Bureau of Reclamation to Provide Flushing Flow below Yellowtail Dam
BILLINGS, MONT.  — The Bureau of Reclamation will provide a flushing flow to the Bighorn River below Yellowtail Dam beginning Monday, April 9.  The flushing flow is being coordinated with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks as part of a multi-year study aimed at restoring historic side channels and fish habitat in the Bighorn River.
The flushing flow is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, April 9, and be completed by 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 12.  During the flush, flows in the Bighorn River will be stepped-up incrementally from the current flow of 2,880 cubic feet-per-second (cfs) to a maximum of about 7,000 cfs and held at that rate for approximately 12 hours before stepping incrementally back down. The maximum flow of 7,000 cfs is expected to occur on Tuesday, April 10 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.  During the flushing flow, the river stage is expected to vary by approximately 2 feet.
River recreationists are advised to exercise extra caution throughout the duration of the flush. For additional information, please contact Paula Holwegner of the Montana Area Office, Bureau of Reclamation, at 406-247-7300.

Betty White enters Orvis Dog Contest

Yellowtail Stakeholders and Interested Parties:  This message is to provide you with notification of Reclamation’s plans to continue reducing our releases from Yellowtail Dam to the Bighorn River.  Inflows are currently averaging about 6,700 cubic-feet per second (cfs), and the reservoir is dropping at a rate of about 0.30 to 0.40 feet per day.   In order to control the rate of evacuation of the flood storage pool, and in cooperation with the  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), we are planning to make the following reduction in our releases:

Monday, August 8 at 4:00 PM: Releases from Yellowtail Dam will be reduced from 9,000 cfs to 8,000 cfs.

Please be advised that additional reductions in releases will be scheduled in the coming weeks in order to continue controlling the rate of evacuation of the flood storage pool, as well as to stage down Bighorn River flows in a controlled manner.  We are anticipating the next reduction to a release of about 7,000 cfs will occur later this week.

We are continuing to post updates to the operational conditions at Yellowtail Dam on a daily basis on the Montana Area Office website at http://www.usbr.gov/gp/mtao.  The information for Yellowtail Dam is located under the heading “Updated Yellowtail Operations Status.”  Please let me know if you have any questions about these updates or about our current operations at Yellowtail Dam.