Personally, I trust the guys that are running the dam:  the US Army Corps of Engineers.  Here's a link to their charts and graphs.  Shows inflow, outflow, reservoir elevation, etc.

http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/nws/hh/basins/data.html?grn+hah

( I mean, 1260, 1120, and 1060, you're basicly talking about the same water level: boney LOW. That's not a qualitative statement, just a descriptive one.

Okay, there is a reason why this is complicated. You have to consider where the gauges are located and the timing between the gauges.

The information that the Corps publishes is inflow and outflow w.r.t. the reservoir. The reservoir (and gauge) is roughly 7 miles above KP State Park.

Roughly four miles downstream from there, is the USGS Palmer gauge. So, water released at t=0, reaches this gauge at t=x (how long does it take for the water to travel 4 miles?). Furthermore, there is water that comes in from the sides (usually pretty minor compared to the outflow), and, importantly, it measures water *AFTER* Tacoma has diverted water for its drinking supply. This is about 100 cfs historically but they are trying to divert more, I believe.

So, there is always a difference between these gauges, one of timing and one of diversion/extra inflow.

Now then, when you put on the river at KPSP, you are 3 miles downstream from the gauge, so again, you are on the flow that existed at the gauge 30-60 minutes ago. Clearly, this timing difference is only really important if the flows are varying greatly. If the Corps is raising the outflow by 500 cfs/hour, it matters. If it is flat or a small amount, it doesn't matter much.

To illustrate this final point, consider a very flashy creek like Pilchuck. People often look at a rock at the take-out to judge flows. Well, the water that is flowing past that rock, flowed by the put-in 2 hours earlier. The flow that you'll be on, could be significantly different (higher or lower) when you put-on. You should look at the rock when you take-out to get a better judge of the water that you had. Of course, that doesn't do you much good in terms of making a decision whether the flow is too high or low to safely paddle. This is in contrast to the visual gauge on CC Stilly which is at the very first rapid, so the water you see there, is the water you'll roughly travel with (yeah, I know you might portage, play, etc. that changes this equation).

Bottom line: Go paddle and have fun!

Yeah, as Arn pointed out, theres multiple gauges on the Green... so all of those levels quoted could all be legit on one day. It's likely that the folks calling out for 2200 were looking at the Auburn gauge which is well below the gorge and picks up many side creeks.

I always use the USACE basin summary when looking at the Green since it shows multiple data points... inflow to the reservoir, outflow and precipitation.

http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/nws/hh/basins/data.html?grn+hah

Aaron,