BILLINGS, Mont. - Bureau of Reclamation officials say a healthy snowpack in central Wyoming this winter should provide enough water to avoid a repeat of last year's cutbacks in water releases from Bighorn Lake into the Bighorn River in Montana.

That could go a long way toward defusing tensions that arose between the two states last year, after a prolonged drought prompted the bureau to scale back releases into the river and delay filling the lake.

A tributary of the Yellowstone River, the Bighorn River originates in central Wyoming and passes through Bighorn Lake and Yellowtail Dam as it drains north into Montana.

Montana wants more water in the river to aid its world-renowned trout fishery; Wyoming wants more water held in the lake to serve recreational interests in Lovell, Wyo., and surrounding communities.

"If the pattern holds on the track it's on this year, we should not have any problems filling (Bighorn Lake) and still making ample water available for the fisheries downstream," said bureau area manager Dan Jewell.

The latest projections show the bureau holding releases at 1,900 cubic feet per second through May and increasing them to at least 2,500 cubic feet per second through the summer.

Jewell cautioned that could change depending on how much rain and snow falls in the river basin in coming months.

Last year's release was cut to 1,500 cubic feet per second.

Montana's Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks has said 2,500 is the minimum needed for a thriving trout fishery.

"We'd like to see the releases never go below 2,500 cfs, but it's better than last year," said Doug Haacke with Friends of the Bighorn River. "The downside is last year hurt us so bad that our fish populations are way down this year."

Jewell said Bighorn Lake is currently at 3,616 feet - about 24 feet below "full pool." A level of 3,617 feet is required to open the popular Horseshoe Bend boat launch.

"I'm very optimistic about it, but we still have two months to go here when we generally have our spring moisture," said Keith Grant, a commissioner for Big Horn County in Wyoming.

Grant said maintaining the lake's level is critical to sustaining tourism and offsetting the loss of farming that was displaced when Yellowtail Dam was built in the 1960s.

"With no water in the lake, we have absolutely no tourism," he said.

Last year, following a paltry snowpack, the bureau was pressured to alter water releases from the Bighorn by the two states' congressional delegations and governors.

The bureau ultimately struck a compromise - cutting flows in the spring and increasing them later in the year - that left both sides partially satisfied.

Despite this year's better outlook, Jewell said it's too early to tell if the improved snowpack marks a return to historical conditions or merely a brief interruption in the drought.

To date, the Bighorn basin has 97 percent of its normal snowpack. It was at 81 percent this time last year.

Climate scientists have said changes spurred by global warming could result in long term precipitation declines in some areas of the Northern Rockies.

"We may just be in a situation where we start living with less," Jewell said.

The Bureau of Reclamation holds its annual spring Bighorn Basin Interagency Coordination meeting Thursday in Lovell.