New Bullards Bar Dam is 18 miles upstream from Englebright Dam. Construction was completed in 1970 by the Yuba County Water Agency (YCWA) as part of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Project No. 2246 to provide water for power generation, irrigation, water supply, flood control, and recreation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contributed $12 million to the construction of the dam in exchange for flood control space the reservoir would provide. The reservoir is used heavily for recreation, and it powers two hydroelectric plants. The USACE Flood Control Manual for New Bullards Bar Reservoir (1972) specifies flood releases in a major flood event. Releases from New Bullards Bar Reservoir are made through the New Colgate Powerhouse, through the dam’s low-level outlet, or through the gated spillway.
Oroville Dam and Lake Oroville lie in the foothills on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and are one mile downstream of the junction of the Feather River’s major tributaries. The lake stores winter and spring runoff that is released into the Feather River to meet the project’s needs. It also provides pumped-storage capacity, 750,000 acre-feet of flood control storage, recreation, and freshwater releases to control salinity intrusion in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and for fish and wildlife enhancement.
At 770-feet, Oroville Dam is the tallest earth-fill dam in the United States. Construction first began in 1957 on relocating what is now Highway 70 and the Western Pacific Railroad. Work on the dam site began in 1961. The embankment was topped out in 1967.