Postponed water hearing rescheduled

The Wyoming State Board of Control has rescheduled its hearing on that portion of Fremont Lake Reservoir's water rights held by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The hearing is now set for Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 8 a.m. at the Sublette County Library in Pinedale.

The hearing had been scheduled in Pinedale for Aug. 15, but was postponed at the last minute because of a fatal work accident by one of the agency's field staff of water regulators, according to a press release from the agency.

"It was disappointing for us, not only to upset people's planned schedules in Pinedale, but to lose a gifted staff member in Torrington," said Jade Henderson, the Water Division IV Superintendent.

WG&F has filed a petition requesting that restrictive wording be removed from its 1931 storage rights to enable the release and protection of its stored water at any time of year for the benefit of Pine Creek and the Pinedale community, according to the press release from the State Board of Control. Presently, the use of WG&F storage is restricted to the Fremont Lake fishery during the summertime, and only during the wintertime for the Pine Creek fishery. WG&F owns about 950-acre-feet of the 31,000-acre-feet in the reservoir that stores water within the top six feet of Fremont Lake.

A separate hearing is tentatively scheduled for later this winter by the State Engineer's Office to consider applications for new instream flow water rights in Pine Creek. The Oct. 16 hearing by the Board of Control does not consider the later instream flow proposals, which under law will be decided by Wyoming State Engineer Pat Tyrrell.

Regarding a separate vacancy on his own local staff in Pinedale, Henderson reported that the Wyoming State Engineer still maintains a Pinedale office and local phone number, which is covered for the time being by automatic call-forwarding to his assistant superintendent in Big Piney, Loren Smith.