Flaming Gorge Marinas Race To Survive As 1M Acre-Feet Of Water Sent Downriver

Federal officials announced earlier this year that they will release up to 1 million acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to boost critically low levels on Lake Powell and protect hydropower operations at Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona. That lifeline for Lake Powell has become a slow-motion disaster upstream, where marina operators are racing a falling shoreline and wondering if their businesses have any future beyond 2026.

“We’re not letting the docks go up on shore and break,” said Stacey Rauch, co-owner of Cedar Springs Marina at the reservoir’s south end in Utah. Her crews are scuba diving to detach underwater trusses and move finger docks toward deeper water, splicing gangways and relocating fishing piers. At Buckboard Marina at the north end in Wyoming, owner Tony Valdez hasn’t been as fortunate. “It literally broke every structure on all three of my piers,” he said. “This is devastating. It’s damaged everything.”