Wyoming Supplement for the Wind-Bighorn-Clarks Fork River Basin: Type IV Survey; USDA Water and Related Land Resources Report

Excerpts from the report: The Wyoming portion of the Wind-Bighorn-Clarks Fork River Basin is located in north central Wyoming as shown in figure II--1. Its boundary encompasses an area of about 13,179,000 acres, or about 20,590 square miles. This includes nearly all of Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park, and Washakie Counties; most of Fremont County; small portions of Johnson, Natrona, Sheridan, Teton, and Sublette Counties; and a small portion of Yellowstone National Park. The basin is bordered by the Yellowstone, Snake, and Green River Basins on the west and the Platte, Powder, and Tongue River Basins on the south and east. The Wyoming portion of the Wind-Bighorn-Clarks Fork Basin represents 4 percent of the area of the Missouri River Basin and 21 percent of the area of Wyoming. About 60 percent of the basin is public lands with 23 percent administered by the U. S. Forest Service, 33.6 percent by the Bureau of Land Management, 3.1 percent by the Bureau of Reclamation, 0.4 percent by other federal agencies, and 4.6 percent by the state. The remaining lands are in private ownership held either by individuals, corporations, or the Arapahoe and Shoshone Indian tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation. This report presents the results of a study of problems and needs, potentials, and opportunities for the use and development of water and related land resources in the Wind-Bighorn-Clarks Fork River Basin in Wyoming. Opportunities for programs and projects which can be administered by agencies of the U. S. Department of Agriculture are identified. This study is needed to provide information for a coordinated plan for systematic multipurpose development of the natural resources of this basin. The objective of this study and report is to contribute to the coordinated and orderly development, management, and use of water and related land resources of the basin. This report includes an inventory of natural resources, an analysis of economic development, an inventory of water and related land resource problems, and an identification of present and future needs for development of these resources. There is discussion of existing projects and programs and an estimate of the development potential of these resources. A description of identified opportunities for U. S. Department of Agriculture programs and their impacts is part of the report.