Whitney is a proposed new reservoir and diversion project in Homestake Valley near Vail, Colorado. Every modeled reservoir option would cause irreversible damage to Homestake Valley. We are organizing and preparing now to protect this place.
Three findings that frame the decision
Save Homestake opposes Whitney Reservoir and any new or expanded interbasin diversion from Homestake Valley. The current public record shows permanent habitat loss, a watershed already heavily burdened by interbasin exports, and a project footprint much larger than a waterline.
Our full-pool models of the four potential Whitney dam sites put 85.4 to 134.8 acres of mapped wetlands and potential fen habitat at risk of flooding; the same 81.4 acres lie beneath every model. Downstream Homestake Creek wetlands, through the Blodgett reach and lower valley toward Red Cliff, are also at risk from altered creek flow and connected groundwater.
Compare the four maps · Read the methodAcross WY2007-2024, Homestake Tunnel exported about 23,400 acre-feet a year, while about 21,500 acre-feet a year passed Gold Park. These rounded averages compare two recorded routes, not total natural runoff.
Read the water findingsA complete review must account for the reservoir and dam, roads, power, uphill pumping, conveyance, spoil, construction access, and long-term maintenance. No final Whitney configuration had been selected in the public record checked July 28, 2026.
Follow the whole-project evidenceLand bought. Dam sites tested.
The Homestake Partners, the cities of Aurora and Colorado Springs, have studied four potential Whitney dam alignments. Utility officials said in 2019 that they had found no fatal flaws in the project. Each option would flood the heart of Homestake Valley. Explore them below. While no final configuration had been selected as of July 28, 2026, the threat looms.
Open the case for denial
Loading Whitney D…
View historical maps and explanationWhitney Lake Trail is always visible in pink. The gold line is the existing Homestake Road.
Pool height: 100% is the modeled full-pool height. Storage volume is recalculated separately.
Gold numbered pins: 1 Whitney Creek Trailhead approach; 2 and 3 Lone Rock Fen roadside approaches.
BioBlitz areas of interest
4 · Wetlands above Aurora’s property
5 · Wetlands above Reservoir D dam
Use Homestake Road and public land; respect private parcels and posted boundaries.
Habitat: CNHP wetlands and mapped confirmed/potential fens. Ownership: COMaP land-management inventory, with Eagle County parcel detail at Whitney. Blue dot and ring: your GPS position and reported accuracy when Locate is on.
Red dots locate the 13 drilling sites proposed in the 2019 application.
The wilderness outline reproduces Aurora Water's 2019 combined Whitney and Blodgett boundary-change concept, up to 497 acres. Toggle it in Layers to see them together.
Switching reservoir variants or choosing Terrain keeps the current camera view. Select the active reservoir button again to recenter looking up valley. The bright pink line marks Whitney Lake Trail. Drag horizontally to orbit; use two fingers to pan or zoom. In full screen, drag in any direction to orbit. A vertical swipe scrolls the page in the embedded view. Use the buttons on a keyboard. Pause 3D releases all map gestures.
Mapped habitat and ownership extend through the full valley and upper basins. The fen layer includes confirmed and potential inventory classes; source classifications remain separate. Wetland mapping uses 1983 and 2011 imagery; land-management records have varying dates. Unmapped features may exist. Follow posted boundaries.
Existing Homestake Road and Whitney Lake Trail come from USGS and Forest Service mapping. The trailhead marks the roadside start of Whitney Lake Trail #2002.
Historical reporting places the potential Homestake Road relocation on the wilderness side of the valley; its alignment remained undecided in July 2026.
The question: What ground could flood behind each of the four potential dam sites, and how much water could each pool hold? We placed approximate dam axes from Aurora Water’s 2019 draft map on USGS 3DEP bare-earth terrain. The model finds the low ground connected to the pool behind each dam, then totals the water above that ground. Changing Pool height changes the water level, and the model recalculates storage.
These are Save Homestake’s modeled flood zones for four potential dam sites shown in the partners’ plans. Their display limits are B 6,850, C 10,000, A 15,000 and D 20,000 acre-feet, all within the utilities’ published 6,850–20,000 acre-foot range. The displayed modeled volumes can fall below those ceilings because the dam-height limits and terrain determine the actual pool. Red investigation points come from the 2019 drilling application.
The terrain is a 10 m USGS 3DEP grid at 1× scale. A connected-pool search includes ground below the selected water level behind a modeled earth-and-rock embankment. Each terrain triangle is clipped at the waterline and at the modeled dam face. For every wet triangle, volume in cubic metres is Vtriangle = A × (d1 + d2 + d3) / 3, where A is horizontal triangle area in square metres and each d is water depth in metres at a vertex. The sum is divided by 1,233.48183754752 cubic metres per acre-foot and the on-screen amount is rounded to the nearest 10 acre-feet. Pool height is a percentage of the modeled water-level range, not a percentage of storage volume.
10 m terrain: USGS 3DEP. Satellite / aerial: USDA and USGS The National Map; the sharper Whitney-area texture is 0.6 m source NAIP acquired September 22, 2019. Topo: USGS. Concept map: Aurora Water, 2019 draft. Lakes: USGS GNIS. Existing road, trail and trailhead: USGS / Forest Service mapping.
Whitney D starts at its modeled full pool of 19,970 acre-feet.
The terrain loads automatically. Open the explorer for full-screen controls.
Wetlands, wildlife and seasonal water
Homestake's fens, wet meadows, willow corridors, beaver ponds and streams sustain different parts of a living valley. The water connecting them matters through spring runoff, summer low flows and drought. Colorado field studies document changes to streamside vegetation below diversions and lasting damage to drained peat. Protecting Homestake means protecting the seasonal water and connected habitats that keep it alive.
HWF:V3-ST02 · Abstract; Methods; Table IV; discussion pp. 592–594; HWF:V3-ST04 · Abstract; Table 1; Results; author manuscript PDF pp. 1–6
HWF:S31 · Downstream effects of stream flow diversion on channel characteristics and riparian vegetation in the Colorado Rocky Mountains · HWF:V3-07 · Effectiveness of Ditch Blockage for Restoring Hydrologic and Soil Processes in Mountain Peatlands
“The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us.”
John Muir
Homestake Valley has a way of connecting people, growing memories, and healing something intangible.
A child’s first night under the stars becomes the beginning of an annual tradition. A moose and her calf appear on the drive in. A crisp fall morning is spent alone among the changing aspens.
These moments become part of the place, and part of us. It’s why Homestake keeps calling us back, year after year.
Life here, documented across seasons
Eagle River Coalition and Wilderness Workshop lead an ongoing public record of the plants, animals, fungi, wetlands, and signs of life found across Homestake Valley.
Ongoing iNaturalist project snapshot checked . The 229 figure counts identified taxon concepts, not species alone.
The valley has been defended before
Homestake II was stopped through local review, public opposition, documented impacts, and years of legal defense. That history proves organized resistance matters.
Current action
CDPHE's September 18 notice sets a comment deadline of Nov. 19, 2026 at 5 p.m. MDT. Use the guided builder, make the comment your own, and submit early.
