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Nature demands her share <br />Page 1 of 5 <br />news <br />World & Nation <br />the buzz <br />Weather <br />Education <br />Traffic Info <br />Crime Reports <br />Data Search <br />Police Scanners <br />Local News <br />- Ahwatukee <br />- Chandler <br />- Gilbert <br />- Glendale /Peoria <br />- Mesa <br />- Phoenix <br />- Scottsdale <br />- Sun Cities <br />- SW Valley <br />- Tempe <br />- !Extra! <br />Photo Galleries <br />Video Gallery <br />News Multimedia <br />Web Cams <br />Editorials /Op -Ed <br />- Benson Cartoons <br />- Columnists <br />- Plugged In <br />Politics 2004 <br />- Presidential <br />- The Primaries <br />- Register to vote <br />Arizona Republic <br />- Print Edition <br />- Front Pages <br />Obituaries <br />E -mail Newsletters <br />Space.com <br />Special Reports <br />Border issues <br />Famous in AZ <br />AP en Espanol <br />- Estados Unidos <br />- Politica <br />- Latinoamerica <br />- Internacional <br />All <br />Q <br />• Advanced search, tips <br />• Archives (from 1999) <br />Print This I Email This I Most Popular I Subscribe I Larger Type I Smaller Type <br />Nature demands her share <br />Shaun McKinnon <br />The Arizona Republic <br />Jul. 25, 2004 12:00 <br />AM <br />PAGE - Stranded on a <br />reddish rock shelf 60 <br />feet above the surface <br />of Lake Powell is a <br />string of blue and <br />white plastic floats, <br />the kind that mark <br />water boundaries. No <br />one threw them up <br />there or dropped them <br />from the canyon rim <br />50 feet above. They <br />just ended up there as <br />the reservoir shrank. <br />The ravages of five years of drought are evident along <br />the waterline of Lake Powell's Last Chance Bay. <br />The boats across the bay at Wahweap Marina are docked at water's edge, <br />but the trucks, SUVs and trailers are crammed into an awkward, makeshift <br />parking area, a rocky patch that two years ago was underwater. <br />Above the marina, the white "bathtub rings" <br />etched into the canyon walls by years of <br />subtle seasonal shifts in lake level look more <br />like ghostly afterimages from a picture long <br />gone, a reminder of how much of itself the <br />reservoir has lost. <br />The scars chiseled by five years of drought on <br />the Colorado River are impossible to ignore <br />here in the shadow of Glen Canyon Dam, no <br />matter how many boaters or fishermen <br />continue to use the reservoir. To the West's <br />water managers, they are battle scars, proof <br />that the system works. Store water in <br />amounts this vast and the 30 million people <br />tethered to the river can survive the worst of <br />dry spells. <br />But to others, the reservoir and the dam are <br />ugly symbols of a good idea taken too far. <br />The lake's declining volume - it is at its lowest <br />level since it was first filled in the early 1970s <br />Related links <br />• Drought diminishes river <br />• Nature demands her share <br />• States deal for water <br />• Farmers fear dry future <br />• River's headwaters <br />determined by politicians, not <br />geography <br />• Once- vibrant river delta is a <br />low priority <br />• Tribes win new clout in <br />Arizona <br />• Editorial: Irrational rationing <br />• Our river, our future <br />• Take off blinders or face a <br />parched, dusty future <br />• Lack of cooperation will <br />leave us high, dry <br />0 Scenes along the Colorado <br />River <br />• Special report: Next West: <br />'Phenomenal growth' creating <br />- has revived talk of draining it and tough choices <br />decommissioning the dam. At the very least, <br />some conservationists say the conditions here, nearly 700 miles from the <br />river's pristine headwaters, are evidence that the West's growth has come at <br />a destructive cost to its rivers and the environment. <br />From a windy ridge overlooking Wahweap, John Weisheit sees the ugly <br />symbol. A veteran river guide, Weisheit is the conservation director for Living <br />Rivers, one of the groups arguing that unless Lake Powell is drained and the <br />Glen Canyon Dam taken down, the river and the singular ecosystem it <br />supports through the Grand Canyon will die. <br />"I've been coming here for 32 years, and it looks like it did when I first started <br />usa today news <br />• Party puts Clinton <br />name back on <br />marquee <br />• Assassination, <br />more hostages; <br />bomber kills 3 in <br />Mosul <br />• AFL -CIO sees <br />more interest in <br />election <br />• Kerry pushes for <br />stem -cell research <br />in Florida stop <br />• WTC dust is <br />cleared of one <br />danger <br />today's snapshot <br />How often "pow <br />do parents <br />participate <br />in school <br />fundraisers? <br />news as it <br />happens <br />• Kerry urges fast <br />action on post -9/11 <br />measures <br />• Jackson allegedly <br />imprisoned boy, <br />family <br />• Lawyer mum on <br />conversations with <br />husband of missing <br />jogger <br />• Tribulations <br />continue for <br />troubled transformer <br />• Post -9/11 visa <br />checks sap colleges <br />• Iraq will hold <br />national conference <br />beginning July 31 <br />• Turkey on alert <br />after report of <br />possible 9/11 -style <br />attack <br />• About 200 <br />defecting N. <br />Koreans arrives in <br />S. Korea <br />• Muslim charity <br />indicted in Dallas, <br />accused of dealing <br />with terrorists <br />• Dashboard DVD <br />focus of driver's <br />murder trial <br />• Flooding deaths <br />top 1,000 in South <br />Asia <br />• Diplomats: Iran <br />resumes building <br />• autos <br />• jobs <br />• homes I re <br />• stuff <br />• sell your ce <br />• personals <br />• place an ad <br />• more <br />find0fas <br />• site map <br />• help <br />• phone bool <br />• maps <br />• archives <br />ak p e-e : <br />• local coups <br />• newspaper <br />• tickets <br />http:// www. azcentral .comispecialslspecia1061 articles /0722colorado- environment.html 7/27/2004 <br />NEWS SPORTS MONEY ENTERTAINMENT FAMILIES HEALTH FOOD & HOME YES TRAVEL SHOP ESPANOL <br />Mark Henle /The Arizona Republic <br />