Santa Rosa Dam (National ID # NM00158) is a dam in

Guadalupe County, New Mexico Guadalupe County () is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,452. Its county seat is Santa Rosa. History Guadalupe County was named after ''Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe'' (Our Lady of Guadal ...

. The earthen dam was constructed by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

, with a height of and long at its crest. The uppermost major dam along the

Pecos River The Pecos River ( ; ) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico, at an elev ...

, it serves for irrigation water storage and flood control. Originally proposed in 1951 and authorized in 1954, the dam (then known as the Los Esteros project) generated controversy, as the Fort Sumner Irrigation District which depended on the Pecos River contended it would increase evaporation rates. It was not until 1971 when an agreement was reached to reduce the permanent storage pool at Los Esteros. Construction lasted from 1974 to 1979, and the name of the dam and lake were changed to Santa Rosa the following year. The reservoir it creates, Santa Rosa Lake, has a normal water surface area of , a maximum capacity of , and a normal capacity of . Recreation includes fishing (for

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

and

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

), boating, camping, and other activities at the adjacent Santa Rosa Lake State Park.

References

{{authority control Dams in New Mexico Reservoirs in New Mexico United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Dams completed in 1979 Buildings and structures in Guadalupe County, New Mexico Dams on the Pecos River Bodies of water of Guadalupe County, New Mexico 1979 establishments in New Mexico