Echo Park Dam Site

The Echo Park Dam was a proposed project in the 1950s by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as part of the Colorado River Storage Project. The plan called for a 529-foot-high concrete arch dam that would have flooded significant portions of the Green and Yampa River canyons. However, due to strong opposition from conservationists and the public—including organizations like American Whitewater—the project was ultimately abandoned. Instead, the Glen Canyon Dam was constructed further downstream. The controversy surrounding Echo Park Dam was featured in the inaugural issue of the American Whitewater Journal, in an article by Stephen Bradley titled "Echo Park Dam; Is It Needed Now?" He argued that the dam was unnecessary and warned that its approval could set a precedent, potentially triggering an avalanche of water development projects—particularly since at least fifteen other dams were already being planned within National Parks.