On Oct. 17, history was quietly made: The surface elevation of Lake Mead, a huge reservoir on the Colorado River near Las Vegas, dropped below its record low and continued to fall about a tenth of an inch per day over the following days. Those fractions of inches might seem insignificant, but when projected across […]
Colorado River
Posted inWotr
Hoover Dam: marvel and folly
Seventy-five years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt declared Hoover Dam — then called Boulder Dam — “a marvel of the 20th century.” But I predict that when the dam turns 100 in 2035, no one will be celebrating what now appears to be a 20th century folly. The third decade of the 20th century and the […]
Posted inJune 7, 2010: One Tough Sucker
Net losses
Four endangered fish species currently live in the mainstem of the Colorado River. Several other endangered native fishes — including the woundfin, desert pupfish and Gila topminnow — used to live there but now survive only in the river’s tributaries or in man-made habitats. This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with […]
Posted inArticles
Colorado River blues
Photos and audio stories of communities that live along the troubled Colorado River.
Posted inDecember 21, 2009: Wind Resistance
Life along the Colorado River
See a slideshow of Broussalian’s images of the Colorado River — and its people. The desert Southwest is unlikely to run out of water. But under the pressures of climate change and drought, population and politics, the Southwest is likely to run out of cheap water. The deal of the century will become last century’s […]
Posted inWotr
One man’s salt must not burden another man’s water
The era of massive federal reclamation projects is long over, yet a changing climate will demand more work from less water. And so a new movement — watershed management — has quietly taken the place of building the big dams. Visit the tiny town of Mancos near Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado to […]
Posted inMay 18, 2009: The Rise of the Minotaur
Western water in the age of climate change
Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the WestJames Lawrence Powell304 pages, hardcover: $27.50.University of California, 2008. In 1893, at a meeting of the International Irrigation Congress, Major John Wesley Powell, known for his daring exploration of the Colorado River, stood up to grand applause in front of men eager […]
Posted inWotr
Dwindling supplies inflame water wars
I have a classic Western postcard tacked to the bulletin board above my computer. It shows two men in a field holding shovels over their heads, locked in mock battle. Behind them runs an irrigation ditch. The caption reads: “Discussing Western Water Rights, A Western Pastime.” The postcard makes me laugh because I know firsthand […]
Posted inJune 23, 2008: Peace on the Klamath
Dewey Bridge: In memoriam
When old Dewey Bridge was burned to death in April by a 7-year-old playing with matches, it was almost more bad news than I could bear to hear. One relic after another of the rural West’s past has vanished, but this was one I thought would survive. The bridge was originally brought in pieces from […]
Posted inApril 28, 2008: Pillaging the Past
Rolling on the rivers
In Adios Amigos: Tales of Sustenance and Purification in the American West, Page Stegner revels in striking juxtapositions: the fragile beauty of rivers contrasted with their staggering power to destroy; people working to preserve forests and wildlife alongside a younger generation bent on using nature for self-serving purposes. This absorbing collection of essays stems from […]
Posted inWotr
When dams were young and gardenias a nickel apiece
My mother at 90 prefers the distant past to the present. When she sees the Tournament of Roses parade on television, she recalls coming of age during the Great Depression. When she hears that the nation might be sliding into recession, she tells me what hard times were really like. Her job during the 1930s […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
L.A. Bets on the Farm
Faced with unprecedented drought, the West’s most powerful water agency is mixing Wall Street tactics and rice farm supplies to hedge against Southern California’s risk of going dry.
Posted inApril 30, 2007: Rural Education 2.0
Into thin air?
Global warming has spawned a call for new dams — but there may not be any water to fill them.
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
Wish You Weren’t Here
Quagga mussels — an extraordinarily prolific and costly invasive species — jump from the Midwest to Lake Mead. Dealing with them will be anything but a vacation.
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Getting out of the office, and into hot water
NAME Jeff Mount VOCATION Geology professor AGE 52 HOME BASE Davis, California KNOWN FOR Pointing out that building houses below sea level and surrounding them with weak levees is a recipe for disaster MOST RECENT EXPLOIT On a dare from his son, giving up his raft to kayak the Grand Canyon this summer: “I saw […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
For the love of a river
“Welcome to a way of life”: With these words, Christa Sadler invites readers to sit down by her literary campfire on the banks of the Colorado River. There’s This River is a gathering of rambunctious tattletales: often-hilarious accounts of river guides’ (mis)adventures herding tourists through the Grand Canyon. The anthology includes a glossary of river […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Nine reasons why a river is good for the soul
SILT. Healthy particles of silt are suspended in the river, buffed off eons of Wingate sandstone and the debris of flash floods fire-hosing through twisted arroyos. These tiny particles of soil, mud, stone, trees and bones scour our skin as we float in the slow, warm current of the river. We drift in silence, particles […]
Posted inMay 15, 2006: The Immigrant's Trail
The puzzle of plate tectonics
Few people forget their first visit to the Grand Canyon. The chasm does not reveal itself until you are nearly at its edge. And then it appears, over a mile deep, with a barely visible Colorado River winding through its heart. Geologist and writer James Powell was as awestruck as anyone on his first-time visit. […]
Posted inFebruary 20, 2006: High Noon for Habitat
Tribe brings on the tourists
Hualapai Nation plans ambitious development at Grand Canyon