WSP08132

• File Number: 8220.101.09
• Description: Glen Canyon Dam/Lake Powell
• State: AZ
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 8/1/1989
• Author: Grand Canyon Trust
• Title: Colorado Plateau Advocate-Vol.1 No.1
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

President's Report from page 1

The Grand Canyon Trust's work
spans a broad spectrum, A certain
immediacy - resulting from govern-
mental decisions or failure to act and
the threat of actual hann to the unique
resources of the Grand Canyon and the
Colorado Plateau - drives the Trust's
response to many issues, The Bureau
of Reclamation's operation of Glen
Canyon Dam and the widely fluctuat-
ing water releases to meet peaking
power demand - explained in more de-
tail in this issue - represent a classic
example,

Other issues that have commanded our
attention and action include:

. Recently we learned that a coal
mining company plans to open a major
mine on the Kaiparowits Plateau in one
of the areas recommended for wilder-
ness designation in Con~ Wayre
Owens' proposed Utah BLM Wilder-
ness Act, The mine would require a
major paved haul road for up to 100
bucks a day, with one proposed route
through Glen Canyon National Rec-
reation Area.

. ThispastspringtheNationalPaIk
Service released a report concluding
that the Navajo Generating Sration near
Page, Arizona is the single largest
contributor to viSIble airpollution over
the Grand Canyon, causing an average
4()<J, to SO% -- and as much as 70% -
of the polluting haze during the winter
months,

. The State of Utah and San Juan
County have proposed the develop-
ment of an aiJport and another devel-
opment at Hall's Crossing at the upper
end of Lake Powell which would re-
quire the National PaIk Service to
exchange lands out of Glen Canyon
National Recreation Area.

The Grand Canyon Trust will
be actively involved in all of these
issues and in many others.

The Bureau of Land Management
Plan for the Arizona Strip District, the

remote and spectacu1arly beautiful land
between the North Rim of the Grand
Canyon and the Arizona/Utah border,
and the Colorado River Management
Plan, the National Park Service plan
for managing the recreational experi-
ence and protecting the resources of
the river corridor through the Grand
Canyon, represent another category of
issues, These issues arise in the con-
text oflong tenn plans made by federal
land managers at the unit, such as an
individual national parIc or national
forest, district, or regional leveL

Land management issues re-
quire the Trust's constantpresence and
participation in the planning proass -
the "scqring" meetings widt the agency
planning team, preparing comments
on preliminary proposa1s and drafl5;
acting as acounterVai1ingforce to those
private interests who seek short tenn
gain at the expense of long tenn sus-
tainable resource management, This
calegory of issues requires severa1 years
of persistent effort, knowledge of the
land and resources, and attention to the
nitty gritty of public land management,
There are no dnunatic viclllries Ir quick
fIXes, yet our efforts to affect the out-
come are critical to what actually hap-
pens on the land.

Developing a broader vision of
the Colorado Plateau represents an-
other category of issues in which the

Trust is involved, Last year the Trust
receivedagrantfrom the Ford Founda-
lion kI identify the most imjXX1anl public
land, water, natura1 resource and envi-
ronmental protection issues that will
emerge in the Colorado Plateau during
the next decade and the demographic
and economic trends in the region and
to develop a series of recommenda-
tions for more detailed studies which
would conlribute to resolving disputes
over land preservation and environ-
mental protection and economic de-
velopment, This work has a larger
pmpose beyond mtreIy assembling data.
Over the next decade BLM wilderness
designation and additions to the Na-
tionalParks will be one of the most im-
portant issues in the Colorado Plateau,
The issue promises to be prolracted
and difficult,

The Grand Canyon Trust has
undertaken as a central part of its mis-
sion the identification and preserva-
tion of those lands which will provide
to a growing population in the Colo-
rado Plateau, on its periphery, and
throughout the United States the in-
creasingly scarce resources -- oppor-
tunities for recreation, solitude, adven-
ture, watershed protection, and preser-
vation of biological diversity.

We see national parks, wil-
derness areas, and land management
practices not as methods of preserving

Mission of the Grand Canyon Trust

The Grand Canyon Trust is dedicated to the preservation, protection, and
wise management of the public lands, water, wildlife, and other natural re-
sources of the Colorado Plateau, The natura1 resources of the Colorado
Plateau are threatened by increased visitation, mining, dams, toxic wastes,
and other forms of development, Conflicts over the use of public lands, in-
cluding our great national parks, grow in intensity each year.

The Grand Canyon Trust's role is to help federal, state, and local govern-
ments develop and implement sound management policies and practices; to
monitor closely the government agencies charged with administering a
1arge array of laws governing the protection and use of public 1ands in the
Plateau; to seek constructive change in Congress, state legis\atures, and,
when necessary, in the courts; and to provide a long range vision for the
protection and preservation of the Colorado Plateau,

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