Good snowpack levels in the Northern Hills bode well for Belle Fourche Reservoir and could even help Pactola and Angostura reservoirs this spring, according to Curt Anderson, a civil engineer with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Rapid City.

Anderson cautioned, however, that Pactola and Angostura have a long way to go to recover from years of drought.

The snowpack and the equivalent water content at seven of nine measuring sites in the Black Hills region were above average for the end of February, according to figures from the U.S. Natural Resources and Conservation office in Newcastle, Wyo.

All of the sites had more snow-water content than last year at this time.

The Bear Lodge and Upper Spearfish sites feed into the Belle Fourche River and Belle Fourche Reservoir.

Bearlodge Divide, in the Bear Lodge Mountains of Wyoming, had 16 inches of snow, with the equivalent of 3 inches of water, which is 166 percent of its 30-year average.

Two other measuring sites in the Bear Lodge Mountains are in good shape, too. Reuter Canyon had 35 inches of snow and 9.4 inches of water, 112 percent of average; Cole Canyon had 26.1 inches of snow and 5.6 inches of water. No long-term average has been established for Cole Canyon.

Upper Spearfish had 26.1 inches of snow and 6.4 inches of water, which is 108 percent of average.

North Rapid Creek, which feeds into Pactola, measured 24.8 inches of snow, with 6.5 inches of water, 96 percent of average. But it was a big improvement over the 4.3 inches of water at the end of February 2007.

Blind Park, which feeds into Pactola Reservoir, had 29 inches of snow and 7.3 inches of water, 103 percent of average.

Snowpack also was up at three measuring sites that feed into Cheyenne River drainage and Angostura Reservoir.

Mount Tom, northwest of Newcastle, had 26.8 inches of snow, equivalent to 6.1 inches of water, which is 142 percent of average.

Little Bear Run, northeast of Newcastle, had 20 inches of snow with 4.8 inches of water, which is 141 percent of average.

Mallo, farther north of Newcastle, had 31.4 inches of snow and 7 inches of water, which is 106 percent of average.

The one site that measured below average, Ditch Creek in southwestern Pennington County, had 14.6 inches of snow, with the equivalent of 2.9 inches of water, which is 81 percent of the 30-year average. However, that was still an improvement over last year's 2.1 inches of moisture for the late February readings.

"Last year was kind of bleak," said Keith Culver, district conservationist with the NRCS office in Newcastle.

Culver said that thus far, this year is more reminiscent of the good snow pack of the 2005-06 winter.

But he said points farther east in the Black Hills have less snow this year.

Belle Fourche Reservoir, at 55 percent of capacity, has recovered greatly from extremely low levels of a few years ago, Anderson said.

The nearly average to above-average snowpack offers some hope for Pactola and Angostura, he said.

However, he said, inflows to both reservoirs have been running slightly above 50 percent of average all winter.

With the ground parched, good runoff isn't a certainty.

"It all depends on how it comes off," Anderson said. "If it comes off fast, it makes a lot of difference."

Pactola is at 50 percent of capacity. The water level in Pactola, at 4,539.4 feet elevation, is at its lowest level since April 1991, when it sank to 4,537 feet.

But Anderson said the reservoir can recover quickly. It started raining in the spring of 1991 and, by May 1991, the water had climbed 11 feet in Pactola. After the drought of the late 1980s and early '90s, the reservoir filled up in June 1993.

Angostura, at an elevation of 3,168 feet, is about a foot higher than last year, but that is largely because irrigators last year voluntarily quit taking water from the reservoir in mid-summer, Anderson said.

Part of the challenge at Angostura is the bottom 34 percent of the lake is below the canal inlet, meaning it's unavailable for irrigation. It currently holds 54,500 acre-feet of water, but only about 12,000 acre-feet of that can be used for irrigation.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com