South Fork, May 26th, 2023

Flow out of Palisades Dam was upped to 12000 cfs (15000 cfs at Heise, 6000 cfs at Lorenzo) yesterday. Water management plans are to keep it at this amount until May 28th when flow will be increased step-wise to 14000 cfs. Whether going into Palisades Reservoir or the river below, all tributaries are bringing in snow melt which impacts water quality. The above photo taken looking down Big Elk Creek Arm gives an example of snow remaining on mountains within the drainage. It also shows that the reservoir has enough room to capture resulting runoff given that flow out of the dam is being increased to satisfy downstream agricultural demands but not having the best impact on fishing success.