Local officials throughout Fremont County have begun looking ahead to spring and the potential for flooding in the Wind River Basin.
In Lander, public works director Lance Hopkin said he has already reached out to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ask whether flood barriers could be “staged” in town before the rivers rise this spring.
“We know we need 1,440 lineal feet to do Fremont Street,” Hopkin told the Lander City Council during a meeting last week. “(We’re) trying to see if it’s something we need to purchase.”
He said he has also “started the conversation with the county” about “who’s doing what” to provide sand and sandbags for local residents to use to shore up private property during flood events.
“I’m a little concerned that we’re going to see two different runs of water this year,” Hopkin said. “We’ll probably see that Baldwin-Squaw Creek issue again if that all comes off in one warm day – that lower basin issue – and then later in the season potentially the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie issue, just depending how much water is up above. So we’re getting prepared for both conversations. … We’ll try to get everything staged and stored (to) be ready for that.”
Officials are also “getting the message out to individual people to start getting ready and thinking about, if they’re in the flood plane … what they can do to protect themselves,” Hopkin added.
Water report
The Natural Resources Conservation Service Wyoming Basin and Water Supply Outlook Report for March forecasts streamflows into Boysen Reservoir at 108 percent of median this spring.
“The 50 percent exceedance forecasts for the April through September runoff period should yield above normal for the Wind River,” the report states. “The Wind River above Bull Lake Creek will yield about 113 percent of median. Little Popo Agie River near Lander should yield around 129 percent of median. Little Wind River near Riverton will yield around 137 percent of median.”
Precipitation
The report says year-to-date precipitation in the Wind River Basin was at 109 percent of median at the beginning of March.
February precipitation for the Wind River Basin was 98 percent of median, according to the report.
Snow-water equivalents
The snow-water equivalent for the Wind River Basin was 125 percent of median on March 1, the NRCS report states.
That number had fallen to 111 percent of median by Thursday.
The SWE above Dubois was 107 percent of median March 1, the Little Wind SWE was 119 percent of median, and the Popo Agie drainage SWE was 150 percent of median, according to the report.
Reservoirs
Reservoirs in the Wind River Basin were “near median” at 98 percent when March began, the NRCS report says.
Boysen Reservoir held 544,200 acre-feet of water at the end of February, according to the report – down from 579,200 acre-feet last year and just below the median of 547,600 acre-feet.
Boysen’s capacity is 596,000 acre-feet of water.
Bull Lake Reservoir held 74,400 acre-feet of water at the end of the February, the report says – down from 87,500 acre-feet last year and 92 percent of the median of 80,900 acre-feet.
Bull Lake’s capacity is 151,800 acre-feet of water.
Pilot Butte Reservoir held 24,600 acre-feet of water at the end of February, according to the report – up from 21,000 acre-feet last year and just below the median of 25,100 acre-feet.
Pilot Butte’s capacity is 31,600 acre-feet.
