Steamboat Springs, Colo. — The City of Steamboat Springs has closed the Yampa River because of low flow and high water temperature.
Until further notice, all commercial outfitting operations are suspended, and the city is asking people to refrain from all recreational uses in and on the river. Notices are posted at popular river access points.
The city takes this action when the temperature of the river is 75 degrees or higher for two consecutive days, which happened last weekend.
At that temperature, the river's fish population starts to become stressed, according to Stephanie Munro, City of Steamboat Springs deputy director of land management.
"Fish usually go to cooler areas, and when tubers and anglers are fishing or recreating in those deeper parts of the river, it causes them to flee from that area, so they become stressed and hot," Munro explained.
Munro said it is not unusual for the city to close the river in the summer, but she said this is earlier than most years.
"We are experiencing a really quick runoff this year as far as snow melt. We got really warm really quickly, so the runoff, it happened very quickly this year. And then we've experienced pretty high temperatures this year and we've gotten little to no rain," Munro said.
The city will check the flow and temperature daily, according to Munro, but it is unclear when the river will reopen. You can monitor the closure through this link.
