Homestake Valley · Colorado
See the place at stake.
See how the different Whitney reservoir options would change the valley. Compare them, adjust the water level, and explore the land that would be flooded.
Loading Whitney D…
View historical maps and explanationMap layers
Whitney Lake Trail is always visible in pink. The gold line is the existing Homestake Road.
Map key and details
Pool height: 100% is the modeled full-pool height. Storage volume is recalculated separately.
- Water: light = shallow, dark = deeper
- Modeled earth-and-rock dam
- 2019 wilderness boundary-change concept
- 13 proposed test-bore sites (A1-A5, B1-B2, C1, D1-D5)
- Existing Homestake Road / FSR 703
- Whitney Lake Trail / #2002
- Location reference points
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 the proposed Whitney D dam location
Use Homestake Road and public land; respect private parcels and posted boundaries.
Habitat: CNHP wetlands and fen mapping retrieved September 18 and October 10, 2026. Violet shows confirmed fens; teal shows potential fens; amber shows confirmed peat-accumulating wetlands. 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.
The 3D terrain covers Whitney and the upper valley. Open the full lower-creek wetland map through Hornsilver to the Eagle River confluence in 2D.
Drag with one finger to move. Pinch to zoom, twist two fingers to rotate, or slide two fingers up and down to tilt. On desktop, drag to move, scroll or right-drag to zoom, and Ctrl-drag, Shift-drag or middle-drag to rotate and tilt. Double-click or double-tap terrain to move closer.
With the map focused, arrow keys move, + and − zoom, Shift + arrows rotate or tilt, N faces north, and Home resets. Reservoir comparisons preserve your view.
On the website, tap the map on a phone to open it full screen; close it to scroll the page again. The companion map is already interactive. Pause 3D releases map gestures.
Sources and context
Mapped habitat and ownership extend through the full valley and upper basins. Confirmed fens and peat-accumulating wetlands follow CNHP’s current inventory classifications, retrieved October 10, 2026. Potential fens combine that inventory with CNHP potential-fen mapping retrieved September 18, 2026. Overlapping areas appear once, and confirmed classifications take precedence. 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.
Potential road relocation
Historical reporting places the potential Homestake Road relocation on the wilderness side of the valley; its alignment remained undecided in July 2026.
How the model calculates the pool
The model uses USGS terrain and approximate dam locations from the partners’ 2019 map to estimate connected ground that could flood and the water held above it. Changing Pool height recalculates the flooded area and storage. The displayed volume is rounded to the nearest 10 acre-feet; Pool height describes water level, not the percentage of storage filled.
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.
Compare Whitney D at modeled full pool with Existing valley, then explore habitat layers and other options. Open the explorer for a full-screen view.
The partners’ dam site maps
Aurora Water's historical Whitney B, Whitney D, and wilderness-boundary illustrations, shown as published.
Explore what Whitney Reservoir would change.
Compare one reservoir variant at a time, adjust the water level, and watch the shoreline follow the valley.
Read what is proposed