How it Works
The Yampa Basin is divided up into 5 segments
- Upper Yampa Segment
- Steamboat Segment
- Elk River Segment
- Middle Yampa Segment
- Lower Yampa Segment
Each segment is further divided into “riverscapes,” or channel/floodplain lengths that are geomorphically similar. Upon assigning scores for each indicator within each riverscape, the category scores are “rolled up” to calculate final attribute scores for each riverscape. Riverscape scores are similarly rolled up to determine overall segment scores.
Click through the tabs below for segment information.
Upper Yampa Segment
Steamboat Segment
Elk River Segment
Middle Yampa Segment
Lower Yampa Segment
The Upper Yampa Segment runs from the Stillwater reservoir outlet to the inlet at Stagecoach Reservoir. This segment will be measured in 2024.
The Steamboat segment begins at the tailwaters of the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District’s Stagecoach Reservoir and ends at the Xcel Pump Station (sometimes referred to as Pumphouse), a Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) public river access site approximately 5 miles east of Hayden. It was scored in 2023.
The segment flows through the Sarvis Creek State Wildlife Area, Pleasant Valley, privately-owned Lake Catamount, CPW’s Chuck Lewis State Wildlife Area, the City of Steamboat Springs, the Elk River confluence, the unincorporated community of Milner, and a portion of The Nature Conservancy’s Yampa River Preserve. YRSP analyses do not include Stagecoach Reservoir or Lake Catamount.
The Elk River segment runs from just above Pearl Lake State Park to the confluence with the Yampa River. This segment will be measured in 2025.
The Middle Yampa Segment is a 39-mile section of river spanning from the Hayden Pump Station, a public river access site approximately 5 miles east of Hayden, to South Beach, a public river access site located approximately 3 miles south of Craig, was identified as the initial focal segment for the Yampa River Scorecard Project. This section of river is referred to as the Middle Yampa Segment and was scored in 2022.
The Middle Yampa Segment flows through Morgan Bottom, the Town of Hayden, Yampa River State Park Headquarters, the Yampa River State Wildlife Area (Dorsey), the city of Craig, the Yampa Valley Golf Course (Pebble Beach), and Moffat County’s Loudy-Simpson Park.
The Lower Segment runs from South Beach access point just outside of Craig to Deerlodge Park near the Colorado/Utah border. This segment will be measured in 2026.
Scoring Scale
All scores are based on the general criteria below.
OPTIMAL & FULLY FUNCTIONAL self-sustaining with minimal/no management, thriving
FUNCTIONAL while basic functions are intact, stressors impair the system; frequent management is needed to maintain long-term viability
NON-FUNCTIONAL biologically unsuitable
