West Rosebud Creek is a spectacular Class III/IV+ creek run in Montana's Beartooth Mountains.  The creek boasts two sections of nearly continuous whitewater, great camping, endless hiking opportunities, and breathtaking scenery.  West Rosebud is also regulated by a dam which is currently undergoing relicensing.  The dam is managed in a way that significantly reduces the number of days of boatable flows in the creek, essentially liimiting paddling opportunities to a relatively few days when the dam is spilling, which happens after the normal snowmelt peak.  This summer however, there will be three different ways for paddlers to take advantage of West Rosebud.

1.  Spills:  The dam is spilling RIGHT NOW, and it appears that this weekend, June 23rd and 24th, will offer good paddling flows on West Rosebud.  Beartooth Paddlers and AW worked with the power company to install a new gage below their reregulation dam on West Rosebud that provides realtime information on the flow in the whitewater reach.  What you see is what you get.

2.  Spill Enhancement:   In addition, Beartooth Paddlers and American Whtiewater have been working with the power company over the past several years (through the relicensing process) to reduce the project's impacts on the paddling community's enjoyment of West Rosebud Creek.  This summer, for the first time, PPL Montana will be testing their ability to provide a bit more water when the amount of spill and generation drops below the runnable levels.  This could happen on any of the next several weekends, and we will update this article when it is anticipated to occur.  While the actual flow triggers are still in development, we'll keep you posted on likely flow augmentation days.   

3.  Recreational Releases:  In addition, there will be a RECREATIONAL RELEASE for the first time ever (with the exception of the flow study) on July 14th from noon to 4pm, and on July 15th from 10am to 2pm.   We encourage paddlers to mark their calenders and take advantage of this great opportunity for late season paddling in the northern rockies!

The goal of these management activities is to learn how the dam owner can better meet the interests of the paddling community.  We are confident that these activities will lead to a long term agreement that provides additional recreational opportunities.  Environmental and recreational monitoring will be occuring during the entire paddling season on West Rosebud. 

You can learn more about West Rosebud Creek at:  http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/1020/