Dear HCN,
The jet tubes of Glen
Canyon Dam have been opened, the dye dumped, the posturing of
politicians and politician-scientists is over. As I write this, a
bunch of real scientists are down in Grand Canyon poking, prodding
and monitoring the Colorado, its beaches and residents to determine
if this “flood” will restore a semblance of balance to the Grand
Canyon’s tattered ecosystems.
As a resident of
Marble Canyon, a Grand Canyon boatman and a fishing guide in the 15
remaining miles of Glen Canyon below the dam, I have watched the
entire carnival this week.
A few things have
become clear.
First, this event will not be
allowed to fail. Watching news reports, it dawned on me that our
head of the Department of the Interior, the head of the Glen Canyon
Environmental Studies and members of the Grand Canyon Trust were
not talking about this event as a test, which it is, but were
referring to it definitively as “what we need to restore the
ecosystems in Grand Canyon.” The “flood” waters hadn’t even reached
Lake Mead and the thing is a success.
The
arrogance of these guys is astounding, but understandable when you
observe the ludicrousness of the arena in which they operate. Go to
an ecosystem drastically altered by a dam in 1963 and on which
there is no data on virtually any component of the system prior to
the alteration. Decide what it was like pre-dam and then operate a
dam to satisfy the requirements of that prior ecosystem, even
though any remaining pre-dam species and systems have been adapting
for 30 years to the new regime.
Second, we are
throwing Glen Canyon to the wolves for the second time in 30 years.
This 15-mile stretch of river supports a world-class tailwater
trout fishery and is the most accessible and therefore utilized
portion of the canyonlands below Glen Canyon Dam. But there are no
scientists monitoring impacts here this week, to watch sand banks
and vegetation wash away, to monitor armoring of the river bottom
or displacement of newly hatched trout fry. Those in charge do not
really want to hear what goes on in this reach, because they know
these floods could possibly trash it. There is no sediment bank in
deep water to be redeposited, the remaining beaches in this reach
are heading for Lake Mead. No humpback chubs either, only a bunch
of lousy introduced trout that support a fishery valued at an
estimated $4 million-$5 million annually and provide a recreational
opportunity that cannot be quantified in dollars and
cents.
The entire enterprise is incredibly
complex. We have worked our way into a corner where the
environmental bad guy is no longer so easy to spot. To what degree
do you attempt to mitigate an environmental disaster such as Glen
Canyon Dam? Because of the dam we have trout which provide food for
eagles which have changed migration patterns to take advantage of
this easy food source. We have a river producing 47 species of
midges that provide food for native and non-native species alike.
These benefits and others are jeopardized by manipulations designed
to benefit other aspects, in this instance redepositing beaches in
Grand Canyon, improving habitat for native fish and employing
scientists.
The concept is wonderful: Technology
and the environment waltzing hand-in-hand into the sunset. But
don’t be fooled, it is also a dangerous concept. This “you can have
your cake and eat it too” attitude smacks of the same kind of
arrogance and disregard for the environment that allowed the
building of Glen Canyon dam in the first
place.
Dave
Foster
Marble Canyon,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The dam complicates everything.
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