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<br />Sail Lake Tribune - Utah <br /> <br />Real Estate <br />Jobs <br />Education GUide <br />Bride GUlde <br />Utah City Guide <br />Grocery Guru <br />Fantasy Soorts <br />Buy/Sell TIckets <br />AdvertislnQ Info <br />Bus./lndustrv <br /> <br />Extras <br />Not in Print <br />NIE <br />Reader Panel <br />Crossword <br />Services <br />Help Desk <br />FAQ <br />Contact Us <br />Subscribe <br />Privacy POIKY <br /> <br />01805 <br />Inslead, the tributaries below Lake Powell contribute the bulk of the sandbar- <br />sculpting silt. <br />The largest source of that sediment comes from southern Utah's Paria River- <br />which joins the Colorado at Lee's Ferry. the launching point for commercial <br />and private boaters 15 miles below the dam. <br />The Pana churned more than a million melric Ions of sill and clay mto the <br />Colorado this fall. BUI the naViS were no! strong enough from the dam to carry <br />the sediment down the Colorado River. <br />Enter: the Bureau of Reclamation. which opened up Glen Canyon Dam's <br />bypass tubes on Nov. 21to release 306.680 gallons ofwatcr per second. <br />Scientists hope that's enough to redistribute the sediments mjecled 1010 the <br />Colorado by the Paria. <br />The volume of the release dropped the Ic:vel of the already-low Lake Powell <br />by 2 1/2 feel. While that may seem alarming at a time of drought. the ,vater is <br />part of the 8.23 million acre-feet reqUIred to be n:leased from Powell to meel <br />user needs downstream. <br />Even so. the deluge practically buried Ihe yellow tips ofthc Invasive <br />tamarisk that gro...... along the banks and transformed the Colorado's emerald- <br />green flow to a shade of milky eolTee. <br />Bennell Raley. assistant inlerior secretary. checked out the flush's aftermath <br />firsthand. "Unless we depopulate the West. which is becoming one of the most <br />....Ibrant and challenging places to live. we need to manage its resources in a <br />way that no one is thrown over the cliITs." said Raley. dech'd out in cowboy <br />hat and a life vest autographed by journalists he has elashed with 0\'Cf water <br />issues. <br />InitIally. Raley was skeplical of the experiment but became convinced aller <br />running the ri....er two years ago with Cross and other scientists. <br />Raley called the expcnment an effort to unite all the Colorado Rm:r <br />stakeholders under the three C's - collaborallon. cooperation and <br />communication - stressed by hIS boss. Interior Sccretary Gale Norton. Power <br />oflicials. farming represenlatives. recreation cnthusiasts and environmental <br />groups all signed oIT on the sludy. <br />Ted Mellis. thc integrated-SCience program manager who leads a team of soil <br />experts and hydrologists for the U.S. Geological Survey. said it's vital to learn <br />how and where sediment IS deposiled into sandbars during high !lows and what <br />!lows arc needed to maintain them - ifll can be done al all. "You can't go <br />beyond what you export." he said. "It's like a finance manager who has to keep <br />accounts in the black." <br />During the !lush. crews lowcred a Ill-pound metal "fish" into Ihe rivcr to <br />wllcct samples containing sediments. They also submerged laser devices at <br />various points to scan Ihe size of part ides as they drifted by. <br />At one point. Mellis' team followed a single patch of high water for 15 <br />straight hours as it made its way down the ColorJdo. <br />Experts also are e\.aluating the river's topography from before and after the <br />artilicial!lood. <br />All the data will be presented during an Cktobcr S)mpOS1Um in Phocmx. <br />Besides shoring up sandhars. scientists hope to buoy up the humpback chub. <br /> <br />http://www.sltrib.C'omhllahlci_2475618 <br /> <br />Page 2 of4 <br /> <br /> <br />11/29/2004 <br />