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, e :~.e "If you want to restore the Grand Canyon ecosystem, removing the dam is .the only long-term solution. " -David Wegner A new generation rallies behind science and public process ... continued from previous JJ08e more of Glen Canyon under water. It was heart-wrenching to watcl1, says Phil. "We would plan to go down for two . weeks and after two or three days we would stop talking, get depressed and go home.~ An unexpected call Glen Canyon was given up (or dead. For 17 years, the reservoir slowly filled, sprawl- ing blue.green through the desert. Sandstone pillars that once towered over the Glen now rose out of the reservoir as islands. Half-drowned canyons hummed with motor- boats and cliff-jumping tourists. By 1995, 2,5 million people were visiting Lake Powell each year, according to the Bureau of Reclamation, adding $455 million to the region's economy. Glen Canyon Dam, a $272 million, 10 million-ton curved.wall of concrete. was here to "stay. Each year, it generated roughly 5 billion kilowatt-bours of electricity, or 85 percent of the Colorado River Storage Project, which powers dozens of small municipalities and cities like Provo, Utah, and Colorado Springs, Colo. Many people never forgave the BuRec for Glen Canyon. In 1975, Edward Abbey wrote TIu! Mon.kty Wrench Gang, a novel that centered on a plot to blow -up the dam. Earth First! held protests in the 1980s. But for the most part, opposition went under with the canyon. ~I didn't know there was anybody else out there wbo (cared),~ says Katie Lee. Then in 1996, her phone rang. A mild. mannered man introduced himself as Richard Ingebretsen, president of the Glen Canyon Institute. "You're who''''' said Katie toe. Ingebretsen told her it was time to take another look at Glen Canyon. "I really want that dam. out of the way,~ he told her. He wasn't talking about monkeywrencmng or eeo-terrorism, but a slow, step-by-step process based on science and public process. As Ingebretsen talked, Katie Lee perked up. ~n1 be a blue-nosed baboon if this isn't' something different,~ she said. "That call was the first glimmer oflight at the end of an incredibly depressing tunnel.~ Ingebretsen, a Salt Lake City doctor and physics professor, had visited Lake Powell as a Boy Scout in the 19605. What little he saw of Glen Canyon made a big impression, and later, running rivers and exploring Utah's desert, one question nagged him; "Why?~ He read everything he could find on Western water law and Glen Canyon Dam. The dam, he discovered, is above all a politi. cal structure. Lake Powell serves as a sav. ings account for the upper Colorado River Basin states, allowing them to deliver 7.5 million acre-feet of river water to the Lower Basin even in dry years, as mandated by the 1922 Colorado River Compact. It is also a dowty, assuring that the Upper Basin will have the water necessary to develop and grow in its own good time. But the environmental costs of the dam are incredibly high. The sediment that colors the Colorado red.brown is the river's lifeblood, providing nutrients for everything from microorganisms to fish. e DETERMINED TO DRAIN: Dave Wegner and Richard lngebretsen (Greg Hanscom photo) 10 -IUgh Country News - November 10, 1997 ;~"'~.. .... .,,~~-....,..~. .;r^"~t;;~l ~;~O:;-~~"il~.:",--*"", <~;'<>~;;;~: :: :';~~,::/~~~~:: GE1llNG CLOSE: Partially filled Lake Powell ben, A.E. Tume~) Now, mote than 90 percent of that sedi- ment settles to the bottom of Lake Powell. The water that flows out of Glen Canyon dam is cold, clear and nutrient-starved. As a result, the river sJstem downstream in the Grand Canyon is reeling; many native fish, amphibian and bird species are on the decline, while exotic plants such a!' tamarisk and non-native fish like trout, carp and cat- fish are taking over. To make things worse, the sediment col. lecting at the bottom of Lake Powell contains heavy metals like mercury and ~elenium. As these metals build up, they (an poi~on fish and birds. Motorboats add to the ffil'SS by . dumping the eqllivalent of an Exxon Valdet oil spill into the lake every four years, says lngebretsen. The dam also stops 1100ds that once maintained riverside benches where native plants and animals thrived. Now, the BuRee: controls the flows on a dnily cycle based on demand for electricity. and the beaches are washing away. The more fngebretscn read, the more he believed there must be a better way. ~l just started caning people,~ he snys. "I or'cided to try and get everybody J had heard auout who had run Glen Canyon togp.ther." The response was so cncouragin!! that in 1995, lngebretsen created the Glen Canyon Institute to teach people about the canyon and the dam. For the first met'ling, he invited David Brower and Floyd Dominy to Salt Lake City to debate the merits (If the dam; they argued as bitterly as they had 40 years e3rlier. Last year, at the institute's seeond meet- ing. Ingebretsen showed Brower's films of Glen Canyon, which had been buried in the Sierra Club's basement for years. Two weeks later, Brower went to the Sierra Club's b03rd of directors and asked th('m to suppQrt draining Lake Powell. The board voted over. whelmingly in favor of the proposal.