Gooseberry Narrows Project

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Charging Ahead to Build Gooseberry Water Project

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been holding secret meetings for the last year to push forward with construction of their massively destructive Gooseberry Narrows Water Project.

Senator Bennett, Congressman Cannon, and State Senator Blackham from Sanpete County are promoting this project. Without massive support from state and federal money, the project would never be built. For years, the Stonefly Society has being trying to obtain an adequate winter instream flow below Scofield Reservoir. Such a flow would turn the Price River into a blue ribbon trout stream, but this will never be possible if Gooseberry is built.

Gooseberry would drastically alter operations of Scofield and would probably destroy this remarkable reservoir fishery. Finally, Gooseberry Narrows would destroy upper Fish Creek and Gooseberry Creek, two of the finest small trout streams in Utah. All this destruction will be done to benefit forty to fifty farmers in the north end of Sanpete County.

A recent study sponsored by the Central Utah Water Conservancy District has showed that a combination of water management and conservation projects in Sanpete could produce almost three times the water at one-third the cost of the Gooseberry Project. So far logic has not altered the intent of the Bureau of Reclamation or the project sponsors in Sanpete County.

We are working with Utah Rivers Council, Utah Waters, and Carbon County officials to try and block the project. We will continue to follow this issue closely and keep you up to date in the What's New section at the top of this page.