The Great Basin has apparently come out of its fifth and sixth year of drought. This area is historically prone to flooding and droughts, such as the six multiyear droughts of 1896-1905, 1930-1936, 1953-1965, 1974-1978, 1988-1993, and the most recent drought from 1999 through 2004. The recent drought was the worst in history.

A threatened fish species living in the Provo River system is the June sucker. Managing the Provo River to optimize the ability of the June sucker to survive is not an easy task during an extended drought. The lack of available water makes it difficult or impossible to provide the annual flushing flows which are vital for spawning and rearing behaviors of the sucker. Without these habit-forming temporary high flows, the sucker population is suffering.

Sport fisheries also suffered during the drought. Some reservoirs do not have conservation pools, making these reservoirs more susceptible to drought-related impacts from draw-down conditions. As reservoir storages drop, the environment available for sport fish and other animals decreases and changes the water quality.

Upper basin plants suffered, which resulted in less stable soils and increased siltation to rivers and reservoirs. Weakened plant species were more vulnerable to pestilence and disease.

The impacts of the previous drought are only beginning to be understood. The impacts of an extended drought are not known, but it is apparent that they reinforce each other, magnifying the damage to the environment and the economies depending on water.