WSP09378 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~on732 Diego, Rock Springs, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and: many others, some perhaps equally wcll known."most with one major commonal- ity, rapid growth. Often having to face tremendous physical obstacles to reach the areas of need, the river's water travels through man-made chan- nels built by muscle, sweat and ingenuity over moun- tains and across 242 miles of blistcring desert in California to its coastal cities and across 300 miles in Arizona southeast to rcach Phoenix and Tucson. In both states, the Colorado is a major player in main- taining the thriving economies of cities and towns. The river's water burrows eastward through tunnels driven through the Continental Divide in Colorado to reach its east- ern citics from Ft. CoUins to Denver to Colorado Springs to Pueblo. Similarly, in Utah, streams and rivers feeding the Colorado will on their way feed the people in Salt Lake, Utah, Duchcsne, Wasatch and Joab counties - enough to supply about one-quarter of all the people living in the state. In Nevada, the glittering Las Vegas and the riverside boom town of Laughlin in large part owe their desert existence to the Colorado. Without the water the river provides, neither could be any more than a dry desert town. And more than one million residents of north. western New Mexico and southwestcrn Wyoming depend upon thc waters of the San J llan, the Green and other tributaries feed- ing the Colorado to serve urban water users. Throughout the seven basin states, tbe Colorado River provides water for people and for business and industry - crcating jobs for millions, jobs that contribute mightily to local economies and billions of dollars to that of the nation. The Colorado's reser- voirs also provide water CRWUA in a year-round array of healthful foods. Agricultural lands in the snow country of the basin come alive when winter dissolves into spring. At the end of the season, each box of cher- ries, basket of peaches or pound of apples, every bushcl of corn, bale of hay or pound of beef, every states. The improved habi- tat continues to attract new species to the canyon. Waterfowl and the great blue heron are now nesting there. Unfortunately, there also have been setbacks. Valuable marshland and backwater habitats had been estab- lished that were rare before Glen Canyon was constructed. Then came the 1983-84 floods and these habitat areas were severely impacted. The extent to which they will recover is not yet clear. But the benefits provided by the. Colorado River don't end with the environment. Add the flood control resulting from tam- ing an unruly bully of a river, the pro- duction of clean, non-pol- luting hydroelectric power and other forms of energy generated in thc basin states with the aid of water from the Colorado, and recre- ation including one of the best white-water rafting experiences in the world and a picture comes into focus of the many benefits of the Colorado - to the western United States and to the entire country. for nourishing fruits and vegetables on the farms and for growing hay to feed cattle on the ranches. More than 1,800,000 acres of irrigated land through- out the Colorado River Basin produce about 15 percent of thc nation's crops and some 13 percent of its livestock, a significant contribution - agricultural benefits of more than $1.5 billion a year. 11 provides a means of livelihood for the people who work the water, for the many hands who raise premium beef and for those who till the soil. Determination and pcrsistence built hundreds of miles of canals wander- ing their way from the river, forming supply lines to carry water to green the broad enclosed valleys of California and Arizona. Whether Imperial Valley or Coach ella, Yuma or Palo Verde Valley, once touched by the waters of the Colorado, fertile soil and lots of sunshine result head of lettuce is indebted to the Colorado River or streams that feed its flow: Not widely recognized are the ecological pluses that have been realized as a result of Colorado River development. Tbe cool, clear water below Glen Canyon Dam has allowed the establishment of a blue-ribbon trout fishery. The riparian vegetation belt is said to be the only riparian area in the South- west to have improved in the 1900s. There has been a greatly increased species diversity and numbers in the Grand Canyon - especially bird species - tied directly to the increase in the quality of the ripari- an habitat. The placement of Glen Canyon Dam rcsulted in encouraging the establishment of an impor- tant bald eagle wintering area and the largest breed- ing population of peregrine falcons in the lower 48 [ij