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The Great Plains Region

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The Great Plains Region Sept. to Dec. 2011 - 90 Day Precipitation Forecast Sept. to Dec. 2011 - Measured Precipitation Belle Fourche Dam, 1908 Lower Yellowstone Canal, 1907 Angostura Dam, 1947 Above Average Below Average White indicates no trend Above Average Below Average Average Area Office National Weather Regional Office and Bismarck Service maps highlight Area Office the uncertainty of Billings predicting future precipitation and resulting inflows to reservoirs. Area Office Casper The Great Plains Region Area Office and Reclamation States McCook Loveland Challenge of the Future Regional Organization Area Office Since 1902 The Great Plains Region Great Plains seeks to proactively meet The Great Plains Region is vast. It includes 21st century challenges in three broad 856,000 square miles - more than half the areas: area Reclamation serves. It covers most of nine states and encompasses a wide range Facility Life Cycle Costs: Some of The Great Plains Region is managed As a Department of the Interior of ecosystems from alpine tundra to the gulf from the regional office in Billings, Area Office the Region’s projects are among the first Austin agency, the Bureau of Reclamation coast. Facilities in the region face constructed by Reclamation. Most are Montana, and six area offices oversees hundreds of dams, challenges unique to their location and more than 50 years old. The need for located across nine states. reservoirs and other water projects demands on their operation. Because of increased maintenance, structural changes that Reclamation built during the 20th geographical diversity, the region is typically and operational flexibility increases cost. The Regional Director in Billings is century. These dams, powerplants impacted by drought and flooding at the assisted in managing the region by and canals are managed to balance Reclamation Regions same time. Great Plains Areas Competing Demands: Water is a finite two Deputy Regional Directors and the economic and ecological priorities six area managers. This group, Great Plains resource with competing demands for of communities in 17 Western states Many of the first projects built by along with the heads of Engineering Montana supply. Changing demographics and ranging from Washington to Texas. Pacific Northwest Reclamation are in what is now the Great and Infrastructure, Business Plains Region. These early projects are economic realities impact Reclamation Dakotas Mid Pacific Resources and Resource Services, The 17 Western Reclamation States* projects. Meeting new or increased water Wyoming often called "single purpose" because their comprise the Regional Leadership Upper Colorado needs without adversely impacting others are divided administratively into five primary function was to store water for Board. Eastern Colorado is our goal. regions based primarily upon river Lower Colorado irrigation. Flood control, hydropower, Nebraska-Kansas basins. The Great Plains Region is recreation, fish and wildlife enhancement The board localizes policy, makes the largest and most ecologically and municipal water evolved as the West Hydrologic Uncertainty: Oklahoma-Texas Forecasting budget decisions, and establishes diverse of the five regions and covers was settled and demands on water supplies future water supplies and demands is an vision and goals for the region. all or part of nine of the 17 states east grew. uncertain science. Reclamation facilities of the Continental Divide extending were constructed to overcome limited from the Canadian border adjoining In the Great Plains Region there are 80 supplies for irrigation by storing runoff from Contact Information Montana and North Dakota, to the Reclamation reservoirs with a total capacity spring and winter storms for use during dry southern tip of Texas. of 22.9 million acre-feet of water. Office of the Regional Director Phone: (406) 247-7600 months. Changing weather trends alter Reclamation, Great Plains Region Fax: (406) 247-7604 Reclamation’s assets, including canals, how well existing reservoirs will continue to P.O. Box 36900 Email: mryan@usbr,gov power and pumping facilities, dams and meet that need. Billings, MT 59107 In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt support buildings, have a current value of *16 Western states were originally named to be signed legislation creating the served by Reclamation. Texas was added in 1906. Reclamation Service (later renamed the about $20 billion. For a complete list of contacts go to: http://www.usbr.gov/gp/about_us/ Bureau of Reclamation). Boysen Dam and Powerplant in Wyoming is a unit of the Shoshone Powerplant near Cody, Wyoming, is the oldest in the Great Plains Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, a comprehensive Region. Two retired original units are in front of a single modern generator with basinwide development plan authorized by the Flood the capacity of the three original ones. Control Act of 1944. GreatGreat PlainsPlains RegionRegion DeliversDelivers BenefitsBenefits toto NineNine StatesStates MONTANA • NORTH DAKOTA • SOUTH DAKOTA • WYOMING • COLORADO • NEBRASKA • KANSAS • OKLAHOMA • TEXAS Facility Operation Drinking Water Recreation Flood Control Environment Irrigation Hydropower Working with Partners Increasing Efficiency and Reliability: Water WaterSMART Water and Energy Efficiency management in the 21st century demands flexibility. Many Grants: The SECURE Water Act authorizes federal Great Plains Region facilities have been modified from their water and science agencies to work with state and local original design to allow a wider range of water storage and water managers to plan for threats to water supplies and XVI pix release options. Wherever possible, powerplants generate take action to secure water resources. Activities range from electricity as water is released for irrigation and other uses water conservation efforts and basin studies, to developing (often through multiple generation units). climate analysis tools and drought assistance. Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse: Reclamation identifies and investigates opportunities to reclaim and reuse wastewater and naturally impaired Reclamation evaluates how Regional Director Mike Ryan and Crow Tribal Meeting New Demands: ground and surface water. Texas communities are currently Chairman Cedric Black Eagle sign documents facilities can meet the demands placed upon them. A constructing and expanding facilities using Title XVI funds. implementing the Crow Water Rights Settlement. Samples of residential well water from Sailing on Canyon Ferry Reservoir in A home threatened by the 100 year flood Finishing the new concrete spillway crest Irrigation in south central Nebraska. Yellowtail Powerplant in Montana, near classic example is historic Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming. It an area served by a rural water project. Montana. on the upper Missouri River in 2011. at Pathfinder Dam. the Wyoming border. was built early in the 1900s to provide storage for irrigation. Native American Water Rights Settlements: Power generation was added in the 1920s and has grown Reclamation delivers 10 trillion Reclamation manages 289 recre- Historically, Reclamation projects Many Great Plains Region facilities Reclamation provides 1 out of 5 Reclamation is the second largest Federal responsibility for negotiating and implementing since. In the 1980s, the dam was raised to increase water gallons of water to more than 31 ation sites through partnerships were not built for flood control, were constructed in an era that Western farmers with irrigation hydropower producer in the tribal water rights settlements is facilitated by Reclamation. Preparation for blasting for Pathfinder Dam’s supplies for more generation, new municipal needs and for million people each year. with state and local entities. even though this is one of the placed less emphasis on impacts water for 10 million farmland acres United States and operates 58 Implementation of the $460 million Crow Tribal settlement spillway modification. Pathfinder Reservoir now can many benefits provided by water to the environment. that produce 60 percent of the hydroelectric powerplants that store more water to meet the needs of Wyoming environmental considerations. The reservoir is a state park in Montana is currently in progress. Negotiations and and to provide habitat along the Platte River in and provides recreational opportunities for residents and Municipal, industrial and rural The Great Plains Region has 81 storage facilities. nation's vegetables and one produce an average of 40 billion Nebraska. technical assistance are also underway with other tribes in tourists, including a privately run visitor center at the dam. water projects in the Great recreation areas that receive Today, Reclamation projects quarter of its fresh fruit and nuts. kilowatt-hours each year. the Region. Throughout these changes, farming in the original irrigation Plains Region serve nearly more than 14 million visits each The Reclamation Project Act of anticipate the needs of fish and project continued. three million people. year. Most of these recreation 1939 expressly authorized flood wildlife and are operated to Great Plains Region’s 80 storage The Great Plains Region has 21 areas are managed by partners control as a project purpose. minimize adverse impacts to dams and 63 diversion dams powerplants that generated 3.7 Rural Water Projects: Developing safe and reliable Many of the Region’s reservoirs such as the USDA Forest Service, species and habitat. provide water to more than 14,000 billion kilowatt-hours of drinking water supplies for rural
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