River Resource Management in the Grand Canyon (1996) / Chapter Skim
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3 HISTORICAL CONTEXT FOR LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT OF GLEN CANYON DAM
3 HISTORICAL CONTEXT FOR LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT OF GLEN CANYON DAM
Pages 38-49
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From page 38... ...
As trustees for their citizens, the Colorado River basin states have asserted their claims to a share of the river, and individual groups of water users such as irrigation districts, utilities, and municipal water suppliers have obtained water rights to the river and contract rights to the power generated by the dams on the river. The Colorado River has long been allocated among the seven basin states by interstate compacts, congressional legislation, and Supreme Court decrees.
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From page 39... ...
The GOES, however, revealed that the list of stakeholders has expanded beyond the states and individual holders of water rights and that federal agencies have management duties that do not derive from the Law of the River as it has been historically understood. The new claimants include Indian tribes, which are asserting quasisovereignty over portions of the river and its associated environment, recreational users such as river rafters and sport fishermen, and diverse environmental groups.
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From page 40... ...
The system can be managed for the optimization of any mix of objectives, but the ecosystem perspectives recognize the inevitable connection of any management scheme to all resources. As GCES evolved, the need to place the operation of Glen Canyon Dam in the broader context of management of the river corridor through the park and adjoining national recreation area became clearer.
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From page 41... ...
The motivation for GCES and for the EIS on dam operations is that Glen Canyon Dam alters the flow of the Colorado River through a world-renowned national park, but this has not been a traditional concern of the most likely stakeholder, the National Park Service. Not only is the Grand Canyon a unit of the NPS, it is a world heritage site pursuant to the Convention on World Heritage Sites.
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From page 42... ...
The Grand Canyon was designated as a park 3 years after the NPS was established, and its management has been strongly influenced by former NPS Superintendent Mather's administration philosophy, which is to encourage visitor access to national parks. The park was originally opposed by the Arizona business community because it would preclude mining and the development of private concessions.
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From page 43... ...
The importance of the view at the Grand Canyon is illustrated by the federal government's responses to haze. In 1968, legislation to complete the Colorado River storage plan with a reservoir at either end of the canyon, and to finance construction of the Central Arizona Project with revenues from these, was defeated after a national political campaign led by the Sierra Club.
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From page 44... ...
To allow the more slowly developing upper basin to meet its delivery obligations to the lower basin, the compact defines the upper basin's delivery obligations to Arizona, California, and Nevada as 75 mat over a progressive series of 10year periods, and the federal government has constructed two large carryover storage reservoirs to guarantee the upper basin's ability to meet this obligation during sustained droughts. Water moves through the river from the upper basin's storage reservoir behind Glen Canyon Dam to the lower basin at Boulder Dam in order to meet the upper basin's 8.3 mat annual compact and treaty delivery obligations to Arizona, California, Nevada, and the Republic of Mexico.
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From page 45... ...
The act establishes the legality of river corridor enhancement flows consistent with the Law of the River. Section 1802 of the 1992 act requires that the Secretary of the Interior operate the dam in a manner consistent with the Law of the River, including the Endangered Species Act "to mitigate adverse impacts to and improve the values for which the Grand Canyon National Park and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area were established, including but not limited to natural and cultural resources and visitor use." The act makes the EIS the basis for future management.
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From page 46... ...
Intergenerational equity has long been part of the Law of the River and of the GCES, but there was no systematic effort to articulate the principles and to apply them to GCES research and Glen Canyon management options. The 1922 Colorado River Compact apportions the river between the upper and the lower basins in perpetuity.
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From page 47... ...
It seems unreasonable to consider the future operation of Glen Canyon Dam without also considering the principle of naturalness as it might apply to the Grand Canyon National Park. While many aspects of the Grand Canyon are in fact natural or at least not subject to management or direct human perturbation, the river itself and the riparian corridor inevitably are a reflection of human action because of the existence of Glen Canyon Dam.
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From page 48... ...
Instead, the more pragmatic optimization approach provides a tool by which societal preferences, tangible resource values, and operational flexibility can be brought together in a management plan. The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon is not, however, a typical tailwater.
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From page 49... ...
1991. Glen Canyon Dam Operating Authority: Producing Electricity and Protecting the Grancl Canyon Environme'nt.
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