Fontenelle Reservoir

Fontenelle Reservoir is an artificial reservoir located in southwest Wyoming. Although the east end of the Fontenelle Dam and a small piece of the reservoir is really in northeastern Sweetwater County, it is almost wholly contained inside Lincoln County.

The Colorado River Storage Project, impounded by Fontenelle Dam, uses the reservoir primarily as a storage reservoir, keeping Wyoming water in the state to uphold Wyoming's water rights, with the secondary goal of generating electricity. Mining and energy production in the area both use water from Fontenelle Reservoir. Although originally intended to provide irrigation water for agriculture, the irrigation component was scaled back as it became clear that Wyoming's high semi-desert region would be difficult to effectively irrigate.

The reservoir was hastily drained in 1965 and 1986 due to ongoing dam leakage issues and worries about dam failure. The reservoir provides camping areas and boat launching ramps for recreational use. For brown, cutthroat, and rainbow trout, fishing is possible.

The Stepp Ranch, one of the few black ranching families in Wyoming in the 1960s, controlled the land that is now the Fontenelle Reservoir and dam. The Stepps fought in court for their land, but finally fell short. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the Stepp family has owned the land.

Surface area: 8,000 acres (32 km2)
Location: Lincoln / Sweetwater counties, Wyoming, USA