Flaming Gorge Marinas Race To Survive As 1M Acre-Feet Of Water Sent Downriver

Federal officials announced earlier this year that they will release up to 1 million acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to boost critically low levels on Lake Powell and protect hydropower operations at Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona. That lifeline for Lake Powell has become a slow-motion disaster upstream, where marina operators are racing a falling shoreline and wondering if their businesses have any future beyond 2026.

“We’re not letting the docks go up on shore and break,” said Stacey Rauch, co-owner of Cedar Springs Marina at the reservoir’s south end in Utah. Her crews are scuba diving to detach underwater trusses and move finger docks toward deeper water, splicing gangways and relocating fishing piers. At Buckboard Marina at the north end in Wyoming, owner Tony Valdez hasn’t been as fortunate. “It literally broke every structure on all three of my piers,” he said. “This is devastating. It’s damaged everything.”

The broken docks are only part of Valdez’s worry. Flaming Gorge has become world-famous for its kokanee salmon fishery, attracting anglers from around the world for five decades. A 2022 drawdown wiped out the kokanee spawning grounds, and the newly stocked population was just about to reach maturity. “We were just starting to get them back, and now they just destroyed them again,” Valdez said. “They’re literally going to destroy all that again. It will be gone by July.” The drawdown’s timing couldn’t be worse, he added: “This should be done over the winter, because the kokanee and all the fry spawn in September and need three months to get out of the rocks.” The value to Wyoming from this fishery is upward of $330 million, Valdez said.

Even as the water drawdown pressures marinas, Flaming Gorge is simultaneously rising in national prominence as a top scenic destination. The Flaming Gorge-Green River Basin Scenic Byway was designated an All-American Road in 2021, a status shared by only 37 other routes nationwide. It has helped Flaming Gorge become a cornerstone of Sweetwater County’s $160 million tourism economy, supporting nearly 1,500 jobs and drawing an estimated 50,000 visitors annually. Because water isn’t visible for most of the drive, marketing hasn’t focused on boating; guided bus tours highlighting landscape and outlaw history remain strong.

Despite all the work, neither Valdez nor Rauch is sure their marinas have a future beyond 2026. This year’s draw will take Buckboard Marina to the edge of its existence. “Literally, in the fall, we’ll be at 5,970 feet,” Valdez said. “My ramp runs out at 5,960.” Next year, if another million acre-feet is needed, Buckboard becomes a cliffside campground. “That elevation means there’s no Wyoming marinas at all,” he said. “They’re all gone, and I don’t recover from that. We’re just not a marina anymore.” Rauch agreed another million acre-feet would be catastrophic. “This is killing two reservoirs instead of letting one run its course,” she said.

Both question whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Valdez has heard the 7-foot drop at Flaming Gorge translated into only 2 inches more water for Lake Powell. “It’s crazy,” he said. “It’s absurd. They’ve just literally compromised so many businesses, so much stuff, and they’re going to keep doing this all year long.” Rauch questioned the “tremendous” amount of water downstream communities continue to use, noting swimming pools and misters in desert cities while her community dry-scapes and conserves. “There’s no question where the water is going and why we’re running out of it,” she said. “They’re squandering it. It’s just a terrible mismanagement of our most precious resource.”