From Steamboat Today (Tom Ross):
As it turns out, the atypical dam releases probably masked just how low the river might have fallen in August without them. “Whatever it’s been, it was us,” Kevin McBride, district manager of the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District, said Tuesday. “Here in town, we haven’t seen the real flows, that’s for sure.” He explained that in preparation for the Labor Day holiday weekend, the releases were scaled back to help ensure that recreational boaters still would be able to use the boat ramps at Stagecoach Lake State Park. The tapered flows saw the river at Fifth Street in Steamboat Springs go from almost 180 cubic feet per second Sept. 3 to 65 cfs on Tuesday. Broad stretches of the Yampa within the city limits Tuesday were ankle deep.