Photos: Flaming Gorge Reservoir, June 2021

This page features photos of Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which impounds the Green River in Wyoming and Utah. The Green River is the most significant tributary of the Colorado River.

Flaming Gorge was named for its red-colored rock by Major John Wesley Powell during his historic 1869 expedition down the Green and Colorado rivers.

The reservoir, part of the Colorado River Storage Project, was created by 502-foot Flaming Gorge Dam. Construction on the dam began in 1958 and was completed in 1962.

Flaming Gorge is the largest reservoir in Wyoming and part of the Flaming Gorge National Recration Area, which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

In 2021, Flaming Gorge was one of three reservoirs partially drained to increase water levels downstream at Lake Powell and preserve hydropower generation at Glen Canyon Dam. The other two reservoirs are Blue Mesa in Colorado and Navajo Lake along the Colorado-New Mexico border.

DateJune 2021
LocationFlaming Gorge Reservoir (map)
CreditTed Wood/The Water Desk
RightsFree to reuse under Creative Commons license.

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