Hebgen Lake

South of Madison Dam, just north of the Idaho border near Yellowstone Park, is PPL Montana’s Hebgen Lake.

Hebgen Lake is used to store water from a 905-square-mile drainage area at the headwaters of the Madison-Missouri river system, home to eight PPL Montana hydroelectric plants — Black Eagle, Cochrane, Hauser, Holter, Madison, Morony, Rainbow and Ryan. Hebgen is used to regulate the flow of water into the Madison-Missouri system.

With the Madison as its main feeder, Hebgen Lake is about 15 miles long and on its southern end measures up to four miles at its widest point. A man-made lake retained by an earth-fill dam, Hebgen has been called the premier still-water fishing lake in Montana.

From 2003 to 2007, PPL Montana contributed more than $275,000 to improve public boat ramps and docks at Rainbow Point and Lonesomehurst on Hebgen Lake, and developed day-use areas at Hebgen Dam and Fisherman’s Point. The company continues to contribute $10,000 annually toward operation and maintenance of the day-use areas.