Eagle Nest Dam

The Eagle Nest Dam is a dam just east of the town of Eagle Nest, New Mexico on U.S. Route 64. The dam is on the Cimarron River, and it is responsible for Eagle Nest Lake.

In 1907, two wealthy ranchers, Frank Springer and Charles Springer were granted a water permit (New Mexico Permit #71) to impound the water of the Cimarron River for irrigation by building a dam. Construction of the dam began in 1918, and continued until 1920. The dam is 140 feet (43 m) high and 400 feet (120 m) wide. At the top, the dam is 9.5 feet (2.9 m) wide, and it is 45.2 feet (13.8 m) wide at the base. It is considered the largest privately built dam in the United States. The resulting lake, known as Eagle Nest Lake has an area of 2,500 acres (10 km2; 3.9 sq mi) and measures 5 miles (8.0 km) long, and 2 miles (3.2 km) wide. The surface elevation of the water is about 8,300 feet (2,500 m) above sea level. The dam and reservoir can hold almost 70,000 acre feet (86,000,000 m3) of water.

To help finance the dam, Springer sold some water rights from Eagle Nest Lake to local farmers and ranchers. These original rights are known as vested rights. In 1951, the State of New Mexico adjudicated the watershed of the Cimarron River. This adjudication confirmed Springer's original permit which gave him the right to store surplus and flood water in the Eagle Nest Lake. There were many other court cases, and one of them ended up in the New Mexico State Supreme Court in 1990.

The water rights from Eagle Nest Lake have been purchased by local towns including Raton and Springer. The villages of Angel Fire and Eagle Nest also get their water from the lake. In 2002, the State of New Mexico bought the lake, and it is now operated by the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (ISC). After New Mexico bought the lake, various water users approached Governor Bill Richardson in hopes of mediation to end the litigation over water rights.

Governor Richardson and the local governing bodies signed the Eagle Nest Water Rights Settlement on June 2, 2006. This settlement specifies that all users share in water shortages. The sharing arrangement is based on the amount of water in the lake on June 1 of each year. All users will be treated equally, including the so-called Tier-Two users who make bulk water purchases. The agreement can be viewed on the web.