Green Mountain Reservoir lies at the northern end of
Summit County, Colorado
Summit County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,055. The county seat and largest town is Breckenridge.
Summit County comprises the Breckenridge, CO Micropolitan Statistical Are ...
along the
Blue River. The Green Mountain Dam was built between 1938 and 1942 by the
United States Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...
. The reservoir and its dam store water to benefit Colorado's Western Slope. Created by President Roosevelt as part of the
Colorado-Big Thompson Project in 1937, Green Mountain was the first facility to be constructed. This is because it represents a great compromise that made the C-BT project possible: it compensates the Western Slope for water diverted to cities in Northern Colorado from
Lake Granby further upstream on the
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
. Water from Green Mountain Dam is released either over the spillway, through the dam, or through the hydroelectric powerplant at the dam's base. The Green Mountain Power Plant has the capacity to generate up to 21,000 kilowatts, using two generators. Combined with the other five Federal power plants on the C-BT, enough electricity is produced annually to power almost 60,000 American homes.
The reservoir has a capacity of of water. At maximum capacity, the elevation of the lake is 7,950 feet, and the dam is 309 feet high.
The lake is popular with anglers, who catch
rainbow trout
The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coast ...
,
lake trout
The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...
,
brown trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...
, and
kokanee.
State Highway 9 follows the east side of the lake.
The town of
Heeney lies on the western side, and the
Green Mountain Reservoir Trail Green Mountain Reservoir Trail is in the northern Gore Range, part of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located among the developed campgrounds along the shore of Green Mountain Reservoir, Summit County. Green Mountain Re ...
goes past the western side of the reservoir.
See also
*
List of largest reservoirs of Colorado
This is a list of the largest reservoirs in the state of Colorado. All thirty-eight reservoirs that contain greater than are included in the list. Most of the larger reservoirs in the state are owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation and, ...
References
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Reservoirs in Colorado
Protected areas of Summit County, Colorado
White River National Forest
Lakes of Summit County, Colorado
1942 establishments in Colorado