Officials are considering building a dam in Medicine Bow National Forest
Federal and state officials are outlining plans and soliciting public comment for a potential concrete dam project in the Medicine Bow National Forest. The dam would create a new reservoir in the Colorado River Basin. Though the water storage facility would be just 10,000 acre feet – much smaller than other reservoirs in the region – the dam would still tower over 250 feet and block a wooded canyon on a tributary of the Little Snake River, according to WyoFile. Building the structure would cost around $80 million, according to a 2017 cost estimate of the project and WyoFile, and the state would pay for the majority of it. State Sen. Larry Hicks (R-Baggs) managed water and natural resources in the Little Snake River Basin for 32 years and is in favor of the project.