Flaming Gorge Dam

The Flaming Gorge Dam is a concrete thin-arch dam in the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area of the Green River, a major tributary of the Colorado River, in the U.S. state of Utah. One of the largest dams in the American West, Flaming Gorge Dam forms the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which extends 91 miles (146 km) into southern Wyoming, submerging four distinct gorges of the Green River. The dam stores water for the Colorado River Storage Project, which stores and distributes upper Colorado River Basin water. The dam's hydroelectric power plant generates 151.5 MW.

Situated in Flaming Gorge, a canyon of the Green River named by John Wesley Powell, the dam was built and is operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Groundbreaking for the structure began in 1958 and was completed in 1964. The completed structure is 502 feet (153 m) high and 1,180 feet (360 m) long, with three hydroelectric generators. With no fish ladders, elevators or any means of passage for aquatic species, the dam has severely hurt native species. By creating a standing-water pool on a sediment-laden river, the dam has caused the lower Green to lose its sediment load and decrease in temperature, further hurting the native ecosystem.

The Flaming Gorge Reservoir is a popular recreation spot and one of Utah's greatest fisheries. Below the dam, although the morphology and flows of the river now depend on peaking power releases, the Green River is still an excellent stream for whitewater rafting and is a "Blue Ribbon Trout Fishery".