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<br />.: ESCALANTE, Ut8h..,...Inthe ~ty' 1980-. theJia~;
<br />. .tion's envinmmental.Q1oVemeDtcu,t it5babyU;tb. on'
<br />. a fierCe battle to stop'coiistructionof cJaDJ.B ~. the
<br />Colo~o River. TWo: proposed..dains. were . ~r'.-:
<br />>"bullt, but Glen CanYOJidaJii, 1~.1n a.n.1lilp~
<br />. area:. was Completed m 1963. 00Iei- the next;. 17. yean.., ,
<br />watei' backed up fOr i86 miles, :fon:6Jrig Lake.'Powell
<br />.. and in\iD~ Glen Canyon and hundreds of miles of.
<br />'; sidecanyoos. '. ... ....' .,.,.. :,
<br />.The defeat. waS ~ly felt. David Brower, who ,.
<br />was executive director of the Sierra -Club,' called tile
<br />de8tb of Glen Canyon the greatest dl$appointment of
<br />his life. Edward Abbey,. the ~schievous' author and
<br />defender of the natural world, called Glen Canyon the .
<br />"living heart" of the ColotadoRiver and.Lak~ Powell .
<br />,a''blue d~th.'~ He o1.'1:en spoke.of floating a houseboat
<br />, ' fille~ witl;1 exploSives to the balleof' the dam to get rid
<br />of !'Lake FoUL". .. .
<br />,'. What Mr. Abbey~d the. Sierra Club couldn't.ot'
<br />.didn~i do. nature. haS. ~ow accOnip~ed. A severe.
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<br />.,Glen Canyon is on its-way
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<br />back' ~ viewable in ~uch
<br />'~~ its former glory.
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<br />. Western drought ..,... some say the worst in 50(1 jears .
<br />.:..... ~ shrinld:Dg Lake Powell at the rate of up to a foot
<br />every four days. Since 1999, the vast reservoIr h8s
<br />. .. lost more than 60 percent oHts water. L
<br />: " Glen Canyon is returning. It is open and VIewable
<br />, in much ofi~, former glory. ~tthe confluence of
<br />.GQyote Creek and Escalante. River,. where boaters.
<br />. once 'motored by to see famous ~k formatt.o~,
<br />backpackers now J)iCk their way up a shallOW river
<br />'.~eL Fifteen-foot hl~. cottonwoods grow. . amid, , .. "
<br />." tbicjetS o~ wUI~w. ganible oak and tamarisk. Where
<br />fish thrived, ~ountairi lions prowL .
<br />. '. . Thechqemay bepennanent " ,,"., /g
<br />'- .. "Short of' severQl. back~to-back years with 10();. .
<br />:: . yeu-runoff. Lake P~weli will never be fuUagatn;" .
<br />. lJald Dr. Tom Myers, a hydrologic consultant in Reno, ".
<br />'Nev. Dowilstream users now consume-16.5 million. '~i)
<br />acre-feet of water, buttln average only 1~ rpnUon I
<br />. acre-feet flow into the system each year, he sald; Add. .
<br />more than. a million acre-feet of water lost to evapo-...., ~()
<br />\ . Continued on Page 4
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<br />A ~ake: Re~edlng'
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<br />Tti~ purtace of Lake Powell, created by the Gh;ln
<br />~yon Dam. has d~opped 138 feet due to drought. .
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<br />and Es~te.,River. o~ and viSible n"uch as it w.as itjefor~ .~e dam was btplt.' .' '. .<.
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