The Ririe Reservoir is a reservoir located near Ririe, Idaho

Ririe, Idaho

Ririe is a city in Bonneville and Jefferson counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is part of the Idaho Falls, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 656 at the 2010 census.- History :...

. It allows for irrigation, flood control, and provides recreational opportunities.

In 1972 the dam was the site of the first practical application of steel
fibrous shotcrete

Shotcrete

Shotcrete is concrete conveyed through a hose and pneumatically projected at high velocity onto a surface, as a construction technique....

, which was used to build a tunnel adit

Adit

An adit is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, and ventilated.-Construction:...

.
The area surrounding the dam is hilly shrub-steppe

Shrub-steppe

Shrub-steppe is a type of low rainfall natural grassland. Shrub-steppes are distinguishable from deserts, which are too dry to support a noticeable cover of perennial grasses or other shrubs, while the shrub-steppe has sufficient moisture levels to support a cover of perennial grasses and/or...

 and features the sagebrush

Artemisia tridentata

Artemisia tridentata is a shrub or small tree from the family Asteraceae. Some botanists treat it in the segregate genus Seriphidium, as S. tridentatum W. A. Weber, but this is not widely followed...

 and bunch grass typical of the area. The reservoir itself contains rainbow trout

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

, kokanee salmon, smallmouth bass

Smallmouth bass

The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...

 and yellow perch

Yellow perch

The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...

.
If the Ririe Dam failed catastrophically, either from a natural disaster or a human initiated event, it would reach the first population center, the City of Ucon, in 108 minutes; it would reach the City of Idaho Falls, the major population center of Bonneville County, in 187 minutes.