Description of the Study Area Karl G

Chapter 3 Description of the study area Karl G. Taboga and James E. Stafford

3-31 his study examines groundwater resources that The NERB encompasses about 23.75 percent of Tunderlie the aggregated Powder/Tongue/Northeast Wyoming’s total surface area and serves as home to River Basins (collectively designated in this report by approximately 102,000 people, or about 17 percent the acronym “NERB”) in Wyoming, as well as tribu- of the state’s population (Wyoming Department of tary areas in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska Administration and Information Economic Analysis (fig. 3-1). The NERB in Wyoming covers approximately Division, 2016). The NERB contains 19 incorporated 23,223 mi2 (14.86 million acres), or 23.75 percent of municipalities, 17 unincorporated communities, 11 U.S. Wyoming’s surface area. Tributary watersheds in the Census Designated Places (CDP; table 3-1), and a sub- neighboring states are small, about 613 mi2 (0.39 million stantial rural population. The map in figure 3-1 shows acres). In Wyoming, the NERB includes all of Sheridan, townships, major roads, and incorporated municipalities Campbell, Crook, and Weston Counties, 98 percent of within the NERB. Johnson, 93 percent of Niobrara, 50 percent of Converse, 33 percent of Natrona, and 4 percent of Goshen counties. 3.1 GEOGRAPHIC EXTENT, In Montana, the tributary watershed covers 3 percent PHYSIOGRAPHY, GEOMORPHOLOGY, of Bighorn, 1 percent of Powder River, and 4 percent of AND SURFACE DRAINAGE Carter Counties. In South Dakota, the NERB encompasses 6 percent of Custer County, and 5 percent of both The NERB consists of eight contiguous river drainages Lawrence and Pennington Counties. The NERB covers located in the northeastern quarter of Wyoming and 1 percent of Sioux County in Nebraska. Unless specific small tributary areas in neighboring states (table 3-2). references are made to the tributary areas outside of Streamflows from all eight rivers move from Wyoming Wyoming, references to the NERB in this memorandum into neighboring states, and ultimately discharge to the refer only to the Wyoming portion. Missouri River. Data from several decades of USGS stream gauge stations tracking average annual streamflows out of Wyoming are also shown in table 3-2 (Stafford and Gracias, 2009).

Table 3-1. Communities located in the NERB. Unincorporated Census designated Municipalities communities places Buffalo Aladdin Antelope Valley Clearmont Alva Arvada Dayton Arminto Beulah Edgerton Banner Big Horn Gillette Beulah Hill View Heights Hulett Bill Lance Creek Kaycee Four Corners Osage Lusk Hiland Parkman Manville Leiter Powder River Midwest Linch Sleepy Hollow Moorcroft Natrona Story Newcastle Recluse ---- Pine Haven Rozet ---- Ranchester Saddlestring ---- Sheridan Weston ---- Sundance Wolf ---- Upton Wyarno ---- Van Tassell ------Wright ------

3-32 T5S R53E R54E R55E R56E R57E R58E R59E R60E R61E T16N R31E R32E R33E R34E R35E R36E R37E R38E R39E R40E R41E R42E R43E R44E R45E R46E R47E R48E R49E R50E R51E R52E R1E R2E R3E R4E R30E R5E «¬59 «¬323 Lodge Grass T15N T6S k R O S E B U D Fort Smith r ¤£212 Cree P O W D E R R I V E R River T14N T7S Rive C A R T E R River r T13N T8S B I G H O R N ive B U T T E Grass Tongue River R

iver Alzada T9S Reservoir R T12N R30E ¨¦§90 M O N T A N A odge e Owl L Bighorn ¤£85 T58N gu Belle k T11N on A T W Y O M I N G Fourche T57N ree r Missouri T10N T Dayton C «¬112 er Cr ttle Reservoir i Ranchester iv L wde ee T56N 14 o R k T9N ttle O ¤£ Sheridan P wder i alt

14 o L

g o ¤£ D S H E R I D A N

P G

T55N K ¤£14 Belle T8N Creek reek Hulett «¬24

Clearmont C «¬59 N Fourche e i r i a T54N W A Big Horn r T7N E ild ¤£16 C R O O K I Creek P ¤£14 Arvada D T53N Story C Shell £14 T6N ¤ Creek Horse M Goose

¨¦§90 le ¨¦§90 N ey Spearfish tt Sundance Greybull i £14 n ¤ i Keyhole E T5N Clear

Creek O T52N L P Lake H

T51N Reservoir R DeSmet ¤£16 Cr Y Basin B I G H O R N eek T Lead T4N Gillette Pine Haven ¬116 W Buffalo « 85 T50N ¤£ A

Manderson U an Moorcroft W T3N ¨¦§25 L 31 Dead «¬ om Horse ¨¦§90 T49N Crazy ¤£16 O W T2N C A M P B E L L e «¬585

Nowood ch Upton S T48N C ¤£16 reek T1N

ver our Caballo Creek F Beaver P E N N -

Creek T47N Ri Horse Ten Sleep «¬196 I N G T O N T1S North «¬59 Worland «¬116 T46N J O H N S O N Creek «¬50 Newcastle Hill City W A S H A K I E T2S Ri lle e Beaver T45N v For B Black T3S er W E S T O N k T ¬450 Custer wder Dry h « T44N un ¤£16 o Wright de T4S Kaycee P r «¬387 ¤£85

For «¬450 Cr C U S T E R

e d a k c o T43N Fork e t H O T ek S T5S «¬192 k C T42N Middle Salt reek T6S enne S P R I N G S ¨¦§25 Chey «¬89 T41N Fork «¬387 T7S Creek F A L L T40N Edgerton Antelope River Midwest T8S ¤£18 T39N Cree Fork ek Edgemont Cre T9S k T38N «¬259 Dry «¬59 N A T R O N A Creek T10S nce £18 T37N C O N V E R S E a ¤ R I V E R

L T11S £20 g T36N ¤ outh tnin S Ligh N I O B R A R A T12S T35N F R E M O N T ¤£26 T35N T34N «¬95 ¤£85 T34N 136 S I O U X «¬ latte «¬93 T33N Casper P T33N Lusk Glenrock ¨¦§25 T32N Douglas Manville Niobrara A ¤£18 ¤£20 G £20 T32N ¤ T31N «¬91 River HK arrison

«¬270 N T31N S I T30N «¬94 Glendo T30N 220 «¬ North Reservoir A 487 Glendo M T29N Sweetwater «¬ R iver £287 G O S H E N T29N ¤ iver R P L A T T E O R Pathfinder Reservoir R57W R56W R63W R62W R61W R60W R55W R66W R65W R64W T28N R72W R71W R70W R69W R68W R67W R76W R75W R74W R73W B

R77W Y R93W R92W R91W R90W R89W R88W R87W R86W R85W R84W R83W R82W R81W R80W R79W R78W ¤£85 «¬29 A L B A N Y Guernsey E

C A R B O N W Bairoil Fort Laramie 25 ¨¦§ N Explanation Index Map N Base Data Base Data (continued)

_ City or town County boundary M O N T A N A 0 50 100 200 State or U.S. highway State boundary Interstate highway Basin extent S O U T H River or creek D A K O T A WSGS 2018 Lake or reservoir Projection: NAD 1983 Township boundary UTM Zone 13N W Y O M I N G Data Source: N E B R A S K A Bureau of Land Management, 2008

Figure 3-1. Municipality, road, township, and range index map, NERB,Wyoming.

3-33 Table 3-2. Physical characteristics of the river drainages that compose the NERB.

Total surface area Drainage surface Neighboring states Average annual streamflows River Drainage1 (mi2) covered by area (mi2) located in with tributary areas1 (CFS) out of Wyoming 2 this report1 Wyoming1

Little Bighorn River 302 299 Montana 173 Tongue River 1,737 1,609 Montana 430 Powder River 7,979 7,951 Montana 438 Little Powder River 1,381 1,378 Montana 20 Little Missouri River 828 725 Montana 80 Belle Fourche River 3,968 3,881 Montana, South Dakota 116 Cheyenne River 7,043 6,813 South Dakota 85 Upper Niobrara River 550 532 Nebraska 4

*NRCS, 2016, Watershed Boundary Dataset overview, history of hydrologic units and supporting 1 NRCS, 2016 documents: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/ngce/.

Stafford, J.E., and Gracias, T., 2009, Surface water resource map of Wyoming—Streamflows and 2 Stafford and Gracias, 2009 storage: Wyoming State Geological Survey Map Series 91, scale 1:500,000.

The NERB is located within the Great Plains, Middle parallels the ridge of the Bighorn Mountains. Earliest Rocky Mountain, and Wyoming Basin Physiographic formation of the PRSB likely occurred in the middle Provinces. Major physiographic features, drainages, and Paleocene when rapid subsidence (Curry, 1971) created reservoirs of the NERB are shown on figure 3-2 and plate Lake Lebo, which was subsequently in-filled by fluvial, 1. A map of the physiographic provinces of Wyoming is deltaic, paludal (marshy), and lacustrine deposition of available online at: http://www.wsgs.wyo.gov/products/ eroded sediments from nearby uplifts. The Paleocene wsgs-1989-es-1.pdf (Roberts, 1989). Fort Union Formation crops out along the basin margins and is overlain by the Eocene Wasatch Formation (plate 1). The geomorphology of the NERB (fig. 3-2) is dom- inated by heavily eroded Laramide-aged uplifts that A small portion of the NERB extends onto the northeast border deep intermountain structural basins, which margin of the Wind River Structural Basin (plate 1, fig. are filled with sediments eroded from the uplifts. The 3-2) where the South Fork of the Powder River drains Laramide uplifts are composed of large anticlines that the northern flank of the Rattlesnake Hills. Additionally, have crystalline basement cores. Erosion of the uplifts has the Upper Niobrara River drainage of the NERB extends exposed older geologic formations at higher elevations. into the northern Denver-Julesburg Structural Basin. Precambrian basement rocks crop out along the ridges of the Bighorn Mountains and Hartville uplift. Paleozoic Detailed discussion of the geology of the NERB is pro- sedimentary units are exposed in the Black Hills and vided in chapters 4 and 7 of this study. Rattlesnake Hills. Mesozoic formations are exposed in the Casper Arch. The Black Hills and Rattlesnake Hills The area of the NERB is bound by the Bighorn contain igneous rocks formed during brief periods of Mountains on the west, the Casper Arch and Rattlesnake early Tertiary volcanic activity that likely occurred in the Hills to the southwest, the Hartville Uplift to the south- waning stages of the Laramide orogeny. east, and the Black Hills in the northeast. The NERB is open to the north where the PRSB continues into The largest geologic structure is the Powder River Montana, and also along the eastern border of Wyoming Structural Basin (PRSB), an elongate Laramide foreland between the Black Hills and the Hartville uplift. The basin measuring 200 miles north to south by nearly 120 Little Bighorn, Tongue, Powder, Little Powder, and Little miles east to west. The structural basin is asymmetric— Missouri Rivers flow out of Wyoming from the northern it dips gently westward (~1.5°) from its eastern margin PRSB into Montana. The Cheyenne and Upper Niobrara for about 90 miles to the basin’s axis, where it reaches its Rivers enter South Dakota and Nebraska, respectively, greatest depths (~18,000 ft below the surface). The basin across Wyoming’s eastern border between the Black Hills axis is within 10 miles of its western edge and generally and the Hartville uplift. The Belle Fourche River flows

3-34 R60E T16N T5S R35E R40E R45E R50E R55E R1E R30E R5E «¬59 «¬323 Lodge Grass R O S E B U D T15N Fort Smith eek r ¤£212 Cr P O W D E R R I V E R River Rive C A R T E R River r B I G H O R N ive B U T T E Grass Tongue River R

iver Alzada T9S orn Reservoir R R30E ¨¦§90 M O N T A N A odge e Owl L Bigh ¤£85 T58N gu Belle k

on A T W Y O M I N G Fourche ree r Missouri T10N T Dayton C «¬112 Cr ttle Reservoir i Ranchester L wde ee 14 o River k ttle O ¤£ Sheridan P wder i alt

14 o L

g o ¤£ D S H E R I D A N

P ## C R O O K G T55N K ¤£14 Belle Black Creek reek Hulett «¬24

Clearmont C «¬59 N Fourche e i r i a W Devils A Mountain Big Horn r # E ild ¤£16 # I Creek P ¤£14 Arvada Tower Bear Lodge D Story C Shell £14 Mountain ¤ Creek Horse M Goose #

¨¦§90 ar le # 90 N e k ¨¦§ ey Spearfish tt

Greybull i £14 n ¤ i Keyhole E T5N Cl

Cree O L P Lake Sundance H

Reservoir R # DeSmet ¤£16 Cr Powder Y

# Black T Basin B I G H O R N Cloud eek Lead Gillette Pine Haven ¬116 W Peak Buffalo « 85 T50N ¤£ A

Manderson U an # W ¨¦§25 Moorcroft L 31 Dead # «¬ Bighorn om Horse ¨¦§90 Inyan Kara Crazy ¤£16 O W C A M P B E L L e Mountain «¬585

Nowood C ch Upton S ¤£16 # reek Hills # T1N #Hazelton ver our # Caballo Creek F Beaver P E N N -

Creek Pyramid Ri Horse Ten Sleep «¬196 Sweetwater I N G T O N T1S North River «¬59 Worland «¬116 Mountain J O H N S O N Creek «¬50 W A S H A K I E Hill City Ri

W E S T O N Beaver T45N v For Belle Black er Mountains k # Newcastle # T ¬450 Custer wder Dry h « un ¤£16 o Pumpkin Wright de Kaycee P r «¬387 ¤£85

For Buttes «¬450 Cr C U S T E R

e d a k c o Fork e t H O T ek S T5S le «¬192 k C Midd Salt Basin reek enne S P R I N G S ¨¦§25 Chey «¬89 Fork «¬387 Creek F A L L T40N Edgerton Antelope River Midwest ¤£18 Cree Fork ek Edgemont Cre k «¬259 # Pine Dry «¬59 # reek T10S N A T R O N A Ridge C ce n £18 C O N V E R S E a ¤ R I V E R g L ¤£20 outh tnin S Ligh N I O B R A R A T35N F R E M O N T ¤£26 T35N «¬95 ¤£85 S I O U X «¬136 Platte «¬93 Rattlesnake Casper Lusk Glenrock ¨¦§25 Hills Douglas Manville Niobrara A ¤£18 ¤£20 G ¤£20

«¬91 River HK arrison

«¬270 N Laramie Mountains S I T30N «¬94 Glendo T30N 220 «¬ North Reservoir A 487 Glendo M Sweetwater «¬ R iver £287 G O S H E N ¤ iver R P L A T T E O R Pathfinder Reservoir R57W R60W R55W R65W T28N R70W R75W B R93W R90W R85W R80W Y ¤£85 «¬29 A L B A N Y Guernsey E

C A R B O N W Bairoil Fort Laramie 25 ¨¦§ N Explanation Index Map N Base Data Physiographic Data

# _ City or town # Mountain peak/notable high-point M O N T A N A 0 50 100 200 Miles State or U.S. highway Elevation (feet) Interstate highway High : 3875 S O U T H River or creek WSGS 2018 D A K O T A Lake or reservoir Low : 1847 Projection: NAD 1983 UTM Zone 13N Township boundary Data Sources: W Y O M I N G County boundary USGS, 2009; N E B R A S K A State boundary WSGS, 2008

Figure 3-2. Physiographic features, drainages, and bodies of water, NERB,Wyoming.

3-35 northeast around the northern end of the Black Hills, 3.3 POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, LAND then makes an abrupt turn to flow southeastward into USE, AND LAND OWNERSHIP South Dakota. The Wyoming Department of Administration and Perennial streams in the NERB receive a large percent- Information Economic Analysis Division (WDAIEAD) age of their source waters from overland flow associated estimates 102,000 people, or about 17 percent of the with snowmelt and rainfall that originates in semi-hu- state’s population (WDAIEAD, 2016), reside in the mid mountains and highlands, headwater regions, and Wyoming portion of the NERB. The basin contains 19 from persistent baseflow. Most ephemeral flow occurs municipalities and 11 U.S. Census Designated Places in response to springtime snowmelt and to intense, (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010) in Wyoming; most of these short duration, rainfall events characteristic of transient, communities are located along or within a few miles of convective thunderstorms. Streamflows are also affected rivers or creeks (fig. 3-1). by vegetation, temperature, artificial diversions, and complex interconnections with groundwater. Land use in the NERB is controlled primarily by elevation, climate, precipitation, and land ownership. Above 3.2 CLIMATE, PRECIPITATION, AND timberline, the alpine areas are generally used for recre- VEGETATION ational purposes. At lower elevations, densely forested areas are utilized for recreation and limited logging. Climate within the NERB is primarily a function of Grazing is the dominant use for rangelands, foothills, elevation, though latitude and topography play lesser and riparian areas. Agriculture plays a significant role roles. Climate types range from semi-arid continental in the basin; approximately 1.7 percent (256,523 acres) within the interior basins to humid-alpine in the border- of the basin’s surface area consists of irrigated cropland ing mountain ranges. The Bighorn Mountains capture (HKM and others, 2002a, b). Crop-producing areas in much of the atmospheric moisture through orographic the Powder River Basin are located mainly along the uplift, resulting in increased annual precipitation while Upper Tongue River, Clear Creek, Crazy Woman Creek, substantially decreasing precipitation in the basin interi- Powder River, and Little Powder River (HKM and ors. Temperature varies by season from well below 0°F in others, 2002a, b). Other drainages in the NERB with the winter to more than 100°F in the summer. Annual significant irrigated acreages include the Little Missouri, precipitation increases with surface elevation (fig. 3-3) Belle Fourche, Cheyenne, and Niobrara Rivers (HKM and can exceed 41 inches a year in the high mountain and others, 2002a, b). A map illustrating the distribution headwater areas of the Powder River and Tongue River of the broad categories of land cover in the northwestern drainages. Annual precipitation averages 15 inches over United States, with downloadable GIS land cover data, is the entire basin (PRISM, 2016). Most precipitation provided online by the USGS at:https://gis1.usgs.gov/csas/ within the basin occurs as snowfall during the winter and gap/viewer/land_cover/Map.aspx . early spring, and as convective thunderstorms during late spring and summer months (Feathers and others, 1981). Privately owned lands constitute about 70.4 percent of the land in the NERB, approximately 21 percent is fed- The diversity and distribution of vegetation within the erally owned, and 8.3 percent is owned by the State of NERB is primarily influenced by elevation and the Wyoming. Federal land in the basin is managed by the availability of water. The abundance of grasses, shrubs, Bureau of Land Management (~1.68 million acres), the woodland trees (primarily conifers), and other species U.S. Forest Service (~1.45 million acres), and the National generally increases with elevation and corresponding pre- Park Service (1,361 acres). A map of state, federal, and cipitation up to timberline, above which, alpine tundra private land ownership in Wyoming can be found online species of lichens, low shrubs, and grasses dominate flora. in Chapter 3 of the Wyoming Water Development The dominant ecological zones are, generally, sagebrush Office’s 2007 Statewide Water Plan (WWC Engineering steppe/shrubland (mixed prairie grasses and shrubs, and others, 2007) at http://waterplan.state.wy.us/frame- primarily sagebrush) on the plains, mixed deciduous workplan-index.html. and coniferous forest along drainages, sub-alpine spruce- fir forest on mountain flanks, and alpine tundra at the highest elevations.

3-36 R60E T16N T5S R35E R40E R45E R50E R55E R1E R30E R5E «¬59 «¬323 Lodge Grass R O S E B U D T15N Fort Smith eek r ¤£212 Cr P O W D E R R I V E R River Rive C A R T E R River r B I G H O R N ive B U T T E Grass Tongue River R

iver Alzada T9S orn Reservoir R R30E ¨¦§90 M O N T A N A odge e Owl L Bigh ¤£85 T58N gu Belle k

on A T W Y O M I N G Fourche ree r Missouri T10N T Dayton C «¬112 C ttle Reservoir i Ranchester reek L wde 14 o River ttle O ¤£ Sheridan P wder i alt

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T55N K ¤£14 Belle Creek reek Hulett «¬24

Clearmont C «¬59 N Fourche e i r i a W A

Big Horn r E

ild ¤£16 I P C R O O K Creek ¤£14 Arvada D Story C Shell £14 ¤ Creek Horse M Goose

¨¦§90 ar le 90 N e k ¨¦§ ey Spearfish tt Sundance Greybull i £14 n ¤ i Keyhole E T5N Cl

Cree O L

P Lake H

Reservoir R DeSmet ¤£16 Cr Y Basin B I G H O R N e T Lead e W k Gillette Pine Haven ¬116 Buffalo « 85 T50N ¤£ A

Manderson U an Moorcroft W ¨¦§25 L 31 Dead «¬ om Horse ¨¦§90 Crazy ¤£16 O W C A M P B E L L e «¬585

Nowood Creek ch Upton S ¤£16 T1N

ver our Caballo Creek F Beaver P E N N -

Creek Ri Horse Ten Sleep «¬196 I N G T O N T1S North «¬59 Worland «¬116 J O H N S O N Creek «¬50 Newcastle W A S H A K I E Hill City Ri Black Beaver T45N ver For Belle W E S T O N k T ¬450 Custer wder Dry h « un ¤£16 o Wright de Kaycee P r «¬387 ¤£85

For «¬450 Creek C U S T E R

e d a k c o Fork t H O T S T5S le «¬192 k Creek Midd Salt enne S P R I N G S ¨¦§25 Chey «¬89 Fork «¬387 Creek F A L L T40N Edgerton Antelope River Midwest ¤£18 Cree Fork ek Edgemont Cre k «¬259 Dry «¬59 reek T10S N A T R O N A C ce n £18 C O N V E R S E a ¤ R I V E R g L ¤£20 outh tnin S Ligh N I O B R A R A T35N F R E M O N T ¤£26 T35N «¬95 ¤£85 S I O U X «¬136 latte «¬93 Casper P Lusk Glenrock ¨¦§25 Douglas Manville Niobrara A ¤£18 ¤£20 G ¤£20

«¬91 River HK arrison

«¬270 N S I T30N «¬94 Glendo T30N 220 «¬ North Reservoir A 487 Glendo M Sweetwater «¬ River £287 G O S H E N ¤ iver R P L A T T E O R Pathfinder Reservoir R57W R60W R55W R65W T28N R70W R75W B R93W R90W R85W R80W Y ¤£85 «¬29 A L B A N Y Guernsey E

C A R B O N W Bairoil Fort Laramie 25 ¨¦§ N Explanation Index Map N Base Data Precipitation (inches/year)

_ City or town 8 - 10 M O N T A N A 0 50 100 200 State or U.S. highway 11 - 15 WSGS 2018 Interstate highway 16 - 20 Projection: NAD 1983 S O U T H 21 - 25 UTM Zone 13N River or creek D A K O T A 26 - 30 Lake or reservoir Data Sources: 31 - 41 Township boundary 1981-2010 PRISM Climate Normals W Y O M I N G County boundary N E B R A S K A State boundary

Figure 3-3. Average annual precipitation (1981–2010), NERB, Wyoming.

3-37 3-38