Capturing the Green River -- Multispectral airborne videography to evaluate the environmental impacts of hydropower operations

The 500-mile long Green River is the largest tributary of the Colorado River. From its origin in the Wind River Range mountains of western Wyoming to its confluence with the Colorado River in southeastern Utah, the Green River is vital to the arid region through which it flows. Large portions of the area remain near-wilderness with the river providing a source of recreation in the form of fishing and rafting, irrigation for farming and ranching, and hydroelectric power. In the late 1950's and early 1960's hydroelectric facilities were built on the river. One of these, Flaming Gorge Dam, is located just south of the Utah-Wyoming border near the town of Dutch John, Utah. Hydropower operations result in hourly and daily fluctuations in the releases of water from the dam that alter the natural stream flow below the dam and affect natural resources in and along the river corridor. In the present study, the authors were interested in evaluating the potential impacts of hydropower operations at Flaming Gorge Dam on the downstream natural resources. Considering the size of the area affected by the daily pattern of water release at the dam as well as the difficult terrain and limited accessibility of many reaches of the river, evaluating these impacts using standard field study methods was virtually impossible. Instead an approach was developed that used multispectral aerial videography to determine changes in the affected parameters at different flows, hydrologic modeling to predict flow conditions for various hydropower operating scenarios, and ecological information on the biological resources of concern to assign impacts