- Water managers began releasing flows from Elkhead Reservoir on July 13, 2026, to ease severe drought stress on the Yampa River.
- The releases draw from a dedicated 2,000-acre-foot pool created in 2021 to protect farmers and endangered fish during dry years.
- Three partner organizations are coordinating the effort so that a single supply of stored water can serve both agriculture and river habitat at the same time.
Friday, July 17, 2026 — The Yampa River is hurting. Below-average snowfall last winter, followed by a dry and punishing summer, has left the river running low and warm through the farms and ranches of northwest Colorado. For water users who depend on the Yampa to irrigate their fields, the situation has grown critical.
In response, water managers moved quickly. On July 13, 2026, the Colorado River District
, working alongside the Colorado Water Trust and the Yampa River Fund, turned the valve and began sending stored water downstream from Elkhead Reservoir, starting at 10 cubic feet per second. To put that in perspective, 10 cubic feet per second is roughly 4,500 gallons of water flowing past a single point every minute.
Where the Water Comes From.
The releases draw from a dedicated pool of water called the Yampa River Reservoir Release Program. That pool holds up to 2,000 acre-feet of water, enough to cover roughly 2,000 football fields with a foot of water. The program was created in 2021 and was funded through the Colorado River District’s Community Funding Partnership, a collaborative effort designed to protect the basin during exactly this kind of crisis.
The Yampa River gets most of its water from snowmelt off the Flat Tops and the Gore Range. In a normal year, that mountain snowpack slowly melts through spring and early summer, keeping rivers full. This year, that supply ran short, and now the river is paying the price.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors.
Hunter Causey, Chief Engineer for the Colorado River District, framed the effort in human terms. “While we’re experiencing exceptionally difficult drought conditions, the story of 2026 is neighbors and water users working together,” he said. “No single reservoir, organization or water user can solve this alone. By coordinating releases, operations and water use across the basin, we can stretch a limited supply further and provide meaningful benefits for agricultural producers, local communities and the river.”
That spirit of cooperation extends to the environmental side as well. Blake Mamich, Programs Director for the Colorado Water Trust, explained how a nonprofit focused on river health found itself standing shoulder to shoulder with farmers. “The Colorado Water Trust is an environmental nonprofit, and our work is keeping water in rivers,” Mamich said. “In a drought this deep, that same mission means showing up for agriculture. Coordinating closely with the River District and the Division of Water Resources, we can time these releases so a single pool of water helps irrigators extend a tough season and keeps water in Yampa for habitat and fish.”
A Rancher Steps Up.
The ranching community has also joined the effort. Matt Boeddeker, a Yampa Basin rancher with Lily Park Land and Cattle, captured the mood on the ground. “This is a difficult year for producers throughout the Yampa Valley, and we wanted to be part of a practical solution that helps the broader community,” Boeddeker said. “Water users across Colorado are making hard choices and working together to stretch limited supplies, and like them, we hope to help our neighbors complete critical irrigation and reduce the immediate impacts of drought.”
More Than Farms at Stake.
The stakes extend well beyond any single field or fence line. The Yampa River winds through agricultural country in northwest Colorado before it joins the Green River inside Dinosaur National Monument. Along the way, it provides critical habitat for four endangered fish species that depend on adequate water flows and cool temperatures to survive.
When river levels drop too low, managers risk triggering what is known as a “call on the river,” a legal mechanism under Colorado water law that can force upstream water users to stop diverting water entirely. The reservoir releases are designed, in part, to delay or prevent that kind of disruption.
During past dry years, coordinated releases from both Stagecoach and Elkhead reservoirs have helped fill that gap, supporting farms, fish, and river habitat alike.
What Comes Next.
The releases are expected to grow in the coming weeks and continue through July. The Colorado River District and its partners say they will keep a close watch on streamflow levels, water temperatures, irrigation demand, and habitat conditions, adjusting the releases as circumstances change.
For now, the message from managers, ranchers, and environmentalists alike is a consistent one: the river belongs to everyone, and getting through a year like this one requires all of them working together.
Pictured: Confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers, Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado
. PL Bechly, November 2018. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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