7387

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7387
• Author: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
• Title: Glen Canyon Environmental Studies Executive Summaries of Technical Reports.
• USFW Year: 1988.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

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GLEN CANYON ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF TECHNICAL REPORTS

SECTION I: INTRODUCTION

A. The Glen Canyon Environmental Studies

This volume presents executive summaries of 31 of the
33 Glen Canyon Environmental Studies (GCES) technical
reports. These reports have been prepared by
researchers from government agencies, universities, and
private consulting firms which participated in the
four-year GCES effort. This volume is a companion to
the GCES Final Report.

The GCES are a multi-agency effort to study the impacts
of Glen Canyon Dam operations on the environmental and
recreational resources of the Colorado River downstream
of the dam. This portion of river flows first through
15 miles of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, then
through 277 miles of the Grand Canyon National Park
upstream of Lake Mead.

B. Objectives of the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies

In recognition of the concerns of the public and
government agencies, the Bureau of Reclamation was
directed by the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a
general study of the short- and long-term effects of
current Glen Canyon Dam operations on vegetation,
wildlife, fisheries, recreation, beaches, and other
environmental resources. These studies were to eval-
uate fluctuating, low, and high flows to determine the
effect of those flows on resources.

The GCES effort was a cooperative effort among the
Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, and
the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Cooperation and
contributions to the study came from the Arizona Game
and Fish Department, the U.S. Geological Survey,
private consultants, universities, and private and
commercial river runners and guides.

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The objectives of the GCES were to answer two
questions:

(1) Are current operations of the dam, through
control of the flows in the Colorado River,
,adversely affecting the existinq river-related
environmental and recreational resources of Glen
Canyon and Grand Canyon?

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