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Show 1? x mv 1 I-- .' ' s i i V i fit V ' W !, ..VAV.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V..X.V.V.V.VAW.V.V.V.V.V.W.V.V.'.V.VA AM.WMMAwWJIW;ii Dear Editor I am writing in response to Betty Hyde Hughes' letter to the editor in the October-Novembissue. In her letter, she had concerns that draining Lake (really a reservoir) Powell would destroy Grand Canyon. She believes preserving Grand Canyon is more important than restoring an already destroyed landscape. Actually, pulling the plug on Glen Canyon Dam would not only revive Glen Canyon, but also save our national treasure, the Grand Canyon. The Colorado River is one of the silliest rivers in the world. When the river enters the Glen Canyon reservoir (a.k.a. Lake Powell), all of the silt loses its momentum and falls to the bottom of the reservoir. The Colorado River is also very warm-th- at is, before it enters Glen Canyon. But due to the depth of the water, the sun can only warm a very superficial layer of the reservoir, and the average temperature of the water decreases. The result is cool, dear, green water entering the Grand Canyon, instead of warm, silty water that carved the canyons for thousands of years. The beaches no longer have the silt from the river to rebuild the beaches. The dear water is washing Grand Canyon beaches away and thus destroying plant life which cannot grow on beaches that do not exist. Then the birds cannot nest in the trees that are not on the beaches that do not exist The fish go through cold shock and cannot successfully mate in the cold water. Many fish are on endangered species lists because of the water temperature change. The of the Glen Canyon Institute, David Wegner, is a biologist. He worked for the Department of the Interior for 22 years, with most of his time at the Bureau of Reclamation. From 1983 to the beginning of this year, he studied the downstream effects of the Glen Canyon Dam in Grand Canyon. He observed the destruction of plants, wildlife and beaches in the Grand Canyon. The damages were so great that changes had to be made to the operation of the Glen Canyon Dam. In accordance with the Grand Canyon Act passed by Congress in 1992, the Bureau of Reclamation carried out an artificial flood in Grand Canyon. The purpose was to restore beaches by stirring up silt in the river bed and depositing it on the beaches. The floods temporarily restored beaches, but a year later, they were once again washed away. The floods will never have the constant effect that a steady flow of silt would have. At a congressional hearing discussing the draining of Glen Canyon reservoir, Wegner efforts and approaches testified, "Millions of dollars each year are being spent on short-terto handling the endangered fish and environmental problems. Recovery of species and ecosystems require more." The Glen Canyon Institute proposes draining the reservoir slowly, over a period of about 10 years. They strongly denounce any kind of instantaneous draining. They, too, fear the disastrous effects downstream. They are interested in restoring landscapes, not destroying them. The Glen Canyon Institute plans on carrying out studies looking at ecosystem restoration. Areas above the reservoir which were flooded and then drained have been documented. Within several years and a few harsh winters, the river went back to its original bed. The winters washed away the excess silt, and native plants prospered on the beaches. The white bathtub ring was almost completely erased and even the black sun streaks on the canyon walls were slowly recovering Glen Canyon would probably take longer, but it shows great hope for the future. What about the debris and litter that would lie at the bottom of Glen Canyon? I imagine there would be enough beer cans to create large amounts of revenue from recycling The money could pay for the cleanup, and then some. Draining Glen Canyon Reservoir is not about dwelling in the past, it is about preserving Grand Canyon for the future and restoring Glen Canyon, the place future generations have the right to know. er vice-preside- nt m Alexandra L Woodruff Salt Lake City Dear Jim: Lets have a cheer for citizen's advisory committees!" In your AugustSeptember 1997 issue, Scott Groene referred to such a committee, which he said was convened to control OHV use in the San Rafael Swell but reached no decisions, thus demonstrating that such teams are a waste of time. He is entitled to his opinion of what is a waste of time for him or for SUWA Others of us have our own opinions of citizen advisoiy groups based, I think, on fact By the end of 1992, when the Citizens Advisory Committee for BlAs San Rafael Resource Area was formed, the BLM had completed a new Resource Management Plan with all the appropriate public reviews. According to this plan, vehicle use on about of the area (more than one million acres) was limited to "designated road and trails". What remained to be done was to decide which roads and trails would be "designated". Because the BLM is unable to get its people on the land as much as most would like, they sought supplementary advice from many sources that had specific interests and areas of knowledge. The committee began with about 13 members, and over the course of a year and a half and 13 meetings, grew to about 17 active official member Individuals or groups. of meetings, numerous guests brought specialized Throughout the information (sometimes, axes to grind) to the group. I count from the minutes almost 50 people who attended one time or another. The list includes Scott Groene and me. The committee was remarkably successful, considering the disparate interests of the members. In addition to BLM presence (really advisory to the "advisors"), representatives included: Emery County government; local (Price) and state mountain bike groups; local and state motorcycle organizations; SUWA; a prominent rancher; several hikers, including the author of a book on hiking the Swell (he published a second book later); and the Red Rock who inventoried all of the roads with GPS navigation and suggested priorities for roads. Do I need to say that this group carried a huge fund of knowledge beyond what the BLM could muster on its own? Or that it was provided at no cost to taxpayers? were donated by the citizen's The BLM estimated that more than 1,000 man-houof hours on based committee. I presume the estimate was meeting attendance as well as travel time (the cost of which was also donated). I know that the BLM made a conservative estimate, because my personal efforts in making road inventories took more hours than that. and The first meetings suffered through considerable preliminary posturing, both oral and written. After that, the maps came out and the members began to act as if they knew one another. In fact, mutual respect and even cordiality generally prevailed after the preliminaries. The maps provided visual confirmation of much common ground shared by the users, although some sharp disagreements remained. Even so, consensus was reached on almost all of the approximately 2,000 square miles of the Swell. (An exception to consensus in some cases was SUWA, which retained a standing disagreement whenever roads being proposed regions.) In the end, there was hopeless conflict approved were within HR-15on 5 road segments, which were left to the BLM for final decision. I measured from topo maps less than 40 miles of roads and motorcycle trails in the 5 conflict areas - about 2 of the total of some 1,900 miles of roads that I inventoried. Although BLM was left to make decisions for the 5 conflict areas, you can be sure they heard plenty of arguments on all sides to consider. I venture that no individual, including BLM personnel, believes the final BLM plan is perfect, but decisions based on a wealth of citizen input are surely better overall than they would be without that input. three-quarte- year-and-a-h- chest-thumpi- ng 00 Veiy truly yours, Ber Knight Moab Dear Jim: Just to set the record straight, in the "early times, long before you or even Nik had arrived in the troubled little town of Moab, old river runners would sit around the fire at nights and speak of the mythical Backwater Eddy to refer to the sagely wisdom of the river as it flowed. It was said that whatever direction society was headed in its "folly," Backwater usually was flowing in the opposite direction. Like the wisdom of Lao Tzu (the old man) in China, the exploits of Backwater cannot this unique 100 natural shirt This Red Dirt, Which is famous for its properties, has been blessed and is believed to bring good luck to the Wearer. 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