Yampa Yearnings
Eugene Buchanan’s Ode to the Yampa River
Spring is here and we found a perfect morning to dive in to Eugene Buchanan’s ‘Yampa Yearnings – An ode to one of the last wild rivers in the West’
As I sipped my coffee I could feel the lull of the water and smell the willows in every paragraph of the book. There is something about how a river can drown out the bustle of life around us. This book is a memoir, guide and historical account of an incredible natural resource in our great state of Colorado.
Did You Know?
The Yampa River is a model of a healthy river system, running free for most of its 250-mile run from the Flat Top Mountains to its confluence with the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument.
Due to its limited reservoir storage, its natural hydrograph sees high peaks in spring and low flows in fall.
Its floods connect it to its floodplain, supporting rare riparian forests of cottonwood, red-osier dogwood, and box elder; as well as such endangered fish as the Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, bonytail chub, and razorback sucker—which depend on these fluctuations for their survival.
For its first 25 miles the Yampa is called the Bear River. It isn’t until it meets Phillips Creek that it officially becomes the Yampa, named for the edible plant Perideridia gairdneri (fur traders mistook the word “yampa” for the Ute word for “bear,” hence calling it the “Bear River”).
The Little Snake River only increases the Yampa’s flow by 30%, but contributes 70% of the sediment that endangered native fish depend upon.
The Yampa River accounts for 15% of the total stream flow that leaves Colorado.
Yampa Yearnings, by Steamboat Springs author Eugene Buchanan, is a love letter to one of the West’s last wild rivers. A must-read for river lovers and naturalists. Purchase the book and learn more about Eugene Buchanan:
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