Two faces of the Laramie River

Bud Patterson
Posted 4/19/17

For most of its length, the Laramie River is an idyllic, gently twisting and turning river that meanders across some of the most historic territory in the western U.S. It begins its voyage at Chambers Lake, in Larimer County, Colo. and eventually joins fo

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Two faces of the Laramie River

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GOSHEN COUNTY – For most of its length, the Laramie River is an idyllic, gently twisting and turning river that meanders across some of the most historic territory in the western U.S. It begins its voyage at Chambers Lake, in Larimer County, Colo. and eventually joins forces with the North Platte River nearly 280 miles away, near the town of Fort Laramie. The confluence of the two rivers is only a stone’s throw away from the Fort Laramie National Historic Site, home of the most famous of the “High Plains” military outposts, established to protect settlers along the Oregon, Mormon and Bozeman trails.
For most of the year, the part of the Laramie River that flows through Goshen County is a tranquil host, providing habitat for trout, geese, ducks, turkeys, deer, antelope and a dozen or so ranches, some of which have operated along its banks for several generations.
However, there is a six to eight week period during spring when the river can be a raging tyrant, changing course, toppling trees and eroding large areas of land. Of course, the river’s disposition is dependent on the level of snow pack the feeds it and the amount of spring rains that can fatten it even more.
The Laramie River Ranch sits a few miles down river from Grayrocks Reservoir and has seen both faces of the river, scenic and serene or turbulent and treacherous.
“Right now the river is flowing about 300 to 400 cubic feet per second,” said Tom Lee, who, along with his wife, owns and operates the Laramie River Ranch. “Between the end of April and the first week in May that will increase to about 1,000 cfs. And, over the last couple of years, because of snow pack and heavy spring rains that has increased to 4,000 to 5,000 cfs from mid-May to the end of June, which has created a lot of erosion.”
Besides the snow melt and spring rains, Lee said that, at times, the discharges from Grayrocks Reservoir adds to the flooding and erosion and he is hoping, along with several other landowners along the Laramie River, to open a dialog with Basin Electric Power Cooperative, in order to mitigate some the effects of the discharge from the reservoir.
BEPC began construction on Grayrocks Reservoir and the Laramie Power Station in 1974 and the station began generating power in 1980. Though it is a coal-fired power station, the plant needs water from the reservoir for steam production and cooling.
“My wife’s family has had the place for 50 years, since 1964,” explained Lee. “We had a flood in ’83-’84, but after that (the discharge from the plant) seemed to be managed a little better.
“Then in 2011-12 we had a lot of flood damage, and then saw the same pattern occur in 2015-16. We realize the power company has different objectives that we do, but we want to work with them to adjust their releases from the reservoir, especially those years when there is over 100 percent snow pack, and we know there is more than enough to keep the reservoir full.”
Standing beside a huge oxbow in the river, where once there was five acres pasture and now there is five acres of river, Lee explains that snow pack in the areas that feed the river have been close to 150 percent and if there is a heavy spring rain and the reservoir starts discharging its excess water all at once, he and his neighbors stand to lose even more ground.

“The spring runoff has started, but the reservoir is full,” he said. “They have started letting some water out of Grayrocks but if we get the rains like we have the last couple of years, we are still going to have quite a bit of damage.
“Its years like this, when we have excessive snow pack, I think they should be letting water out of the reservoir as early as November.”
He understands, however, that water issues in Wyoming can be complex and driven by history.
During the 1990’s much of Wyoming experienced decimating drought conditions, including Basin Electric. The company scrambled to obtain enough water to keep the power station in operation. It drilled wells and purchased water from upstream users, users who had senior water rights.
“It was very expense for Basin,” Lee said, “and has probably contributed to its aversion to letting water go early.”
The Wyoming State Engineers office oversees Grayrocks Reservoir, as they do other reservoirs in the state, but Division I Superintendent Brian Pugsley said his offices main concern is the physical condition of the dam.
“We don’t get involved in the day-to-day operation unless we see a safety of dams issue. I meet with Basin Electric once a month to go over concerns or review flows and right now they are making some pretty good releases.
“You have to remember, we had some pretty horrendous rain events on the Laramie River. Last year was the third Mother’s Day rain event we had in almost as many years. I’m not sure an early release would have made any difference.”
He said that BEPC has 105,000 acre/feet of water rights and he has seen the capacity of the reservoir go to 120,000 acre/feet, but that much water makes everybody nervous.
“Grayrocks does not have a flood pool, but they can take it up over capacity, but we don’t like to see that too high for very long and you sure don’t want to see water spilling over the dam.
“But Basin starts to get nervous when it gets down around that 90,000 acre/feet level. They’re just like any other water right user, they have the right to so much water and that is where they want to be.”
As far as meeting with BEPC, Pugsley said he is sure the company would be happy to sit down with Laramie River landowners and discuss any issues they might have. But he agrees with Lee, the lessons learned during the drought years include not letting go of too much water to soon.
“In early 2000, Grayrocks was almost empty,” Pugsley said. “BEPC’s permit date is 1972, which makes them pretty junior when it comes to water rights, so they couldn’t just ask the older rights above them to let go of water. So they had to buy it.
“Like any other (permittee), BEPC doesn’t like to let go of water anymore than they have to because it’s their water. And there are no guarantees that just because there seems to be plenty of water in January or February, there will be plenty of water in July and August.”
Although Lee and the other landowners along the Laramie River below Grayrocks Reservoir have not formally asked for a meeting with BEPC, they have asked for, and received support from the Goshen County Commissioners to contact BEPC and open up lines of communication.
Company spokesperson Curt Pearson said BEPC would be very open to a meeting with landowners to discuss concerns about the timing of releases from the reservoir.
“Right now we haven’t received a request from the landowners to meet, but we want to be open to feedback from the landowners,” Pearson said. “We just need to go through the appropriate channels to get the discussion started and the state engineers office and elected officials are appropriate places to start.
“BEPC is always trying to be good stewards and we remain open to working with them.”