Stampede Reservoir Water Level
Stampede Reservoir is at 5,920.10 ft today (Oct 30), 28.60 ft below its 5,948.7 ft full pool, down 0.47 ft this week.
California · Little Truckee River
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Water level history
About Stampede Reservoir
Stampede Reservoir is a reservoir on the Little Truckee River in California, operated by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Its full summer pool sits at 5948.7 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Stampede Reservoir's water level
Stampede is the Bureau of Reclamation's fish reservoir on the Little Truckee River, about ten miles northeast of Truckee in Sierra County. The dam was finished in 1970 under the Washoe Project, which Congress authorized in 1958, and storage began on 1 August 1969. On paper its purposes read like any federal project's list: irrigation, flood control, municipal water, fish and wildlife, recreation. In practice it has done something narrower. When the Interior Secretary concluded that contracting Stampede water for irrigation and city use would violate the Endangered Species Act, federal courts upheld him, ruling in Carson-Truckee Water Conservancy District v. Clark (1984) that all water stored under the Stampede Project must serve the fishes of Pyramid Lake, the endangered cui-ui and the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout, until they are no longer listed or other water becomes available. That is why releases here are timed to flows in the lower Truckee River and to helping cui-ui get past the Pyramid Lake delta, not to farm or city demand.
Full pool on this page is 5,948.7 feet, the spillway crest, where the reservoir holds 226,500 acre-feet across about 3,340 acres and roughly 25 miles of shoreline. That makes it the second largest reservoir on the Truckee River system. Only 5,010 acre-feet is inactive, so nearly the whole pool can be drawn down. Stampede's storage rights are junior to Boca Reservoir, six miles downstream, and to diversions at Derby Dam, a position Prosser Creek Reservoir shares. Since the Truckee River Operating Agreement was implemented in December 2015, the basin's reservoirs also hold credit water for different owners, traded on paper without any water physically moving. The agreement gave the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe rights to store water here, and the Truckee Meadows Water Authority counts Stampede, Boca and Prosser as the upstream reservoirs it releases from in dry years. Its reserves in summer 2021 were about 53,000 acre-feet, nearly double the 28,000 it had before the agreement. A falling level can mean fish releases, Reno's drought supply, or both.
The dam is a zoned earthfill embankment 239 feet high and 1,511 feet long, capturing runoff from 136 square miles. A small powerplant was added to the outlet works in 1988. It makes up to 3.65 megawatts depending on releases, power is incidental to everything else, and Reclamation describes it as the only hydro plant at a reservoir in the Truckee watershed. Risk studies in 2003 and 2004 found the dam could not safely pass an extreme flood, and a failure here would likely take out Boca Dam too. So Reclamation raised the dam and dike 11.5 feet with a mechanically stabilized earth wall, rebuilt the spillway crest and filled two low spots on the south rim with small dikes. Work ran from September 2016 to late 2018 at about $22 million and added no storage. The kokanee here matter beyond this lake: they are the broodstock for California's kokanee program, and in fall 2020 state crews took just over 1.3 million eggs from fish running up the Little Truckee River.
Stampede Reservoir — frequently asked
What is Stampede Reservoir's full pool elevation?
5,948.7 feet, the elevation of the spillway crest. At that level the reservoir holds 226,500 acre-feet and spreads over about 3,340 acres. The 2018 safety raise lifted the dam 11.5 feet but added no storage; the extra height exists only to hold back an extreme flood while the spillway and outlets pass it. Dead storage is just 660 acre-feet, below 5,798.3 feet.
What is the record high at Stampede Reservoir?
In the USGS record, the highest contents were 254,493 acre-feet on 1 June 1983, at 5,956.55 feet, nearly eight feet above the spillway crest. The gauge panel on this page covers only about 2020 onward, and its high is 5,950.06 feet in 2023, so the 1983 mark does not appear there. That 1983 peak came before the 2016 to 2018 dam raise.
What is the lowest Stampede Reservoir has been?
USGS lists the minimum since the reservoir first filled as 30,772 acre-feet on 31 January and 1 February 1978, at 5,853.60 feet, about 95 feet below full pool. The gauge panel on this page covers only about 2020 onward; its low of 5,891.77 feet came in 2021.
Why is Stampede Reservoir so low?
Stampede is drawn down for purposes other than recreation. Court rulings in the 1980s committed its project water to Pyramid Lake's cui-ui and Lahontan cutthroat trout, so water goes out when the lower Truckee River needs flow. The Truckee Meadows Water Authority also draws on Stampede, Boca and Prosser in dry years. And because its storage rights are junior to Boca and Derby Dam, it refills last in a short water year.
Can you launch a boat at Stampede when the water is low?
The Captain Roberts boat ramp sits next to Logger Campground on the south shore. In late October 2021, with the reservoir at 34 percent of capacity, a local fishing report said boats over 20 feet were not recommended for launching, though smaller boats could still get on the water. Expect similar limits whenever the level falls well below full pool.
Why was Stampede Dam raised?
Reclamation's risk analyses in 2003 and 2004 found the dam could overtop in an extreme flood, and its failure would probably also fail Boca Dam six miles downstream, endangering people around Reno. A $21.8 million contract went to NW Construction of Bozeman, Montana, in 2016. Crews raised the dam and dike 11.5 feet, reworked the spillway crest and built two rim dikes, and Dog Valley Road over the dam reopened in late 2018.
What fish are in Stampede Reservoir?
Kokanee salmon along with rainbow, brook, brown and lake trout (mackinaw), and smallmouth bass also turn up. The kokanee run up the Little Truckee River each fall, where CDFW traps them at a temporary weir and spawns them by hand. The eggs are incubated at the San Joaquin and American River hatcheries, and about 850,000 fry a year go to roughly fifteen California lakes and reservoirs.
Other lakes near Stampede Reservoir
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