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TRW T 19 A LEE'S FERRY T POWER, POLITICS AND TROUT ON THE COLORADO lUVER othing fully prepares you for your first Lee's Ferry angling experience.N I was moved to poetry by the time our boat started upriver from the dock. As the morning sun began to top the walls of Glen Canyon with glowing, golden-red light, my inspiration turned to awe. Looking up the sheer, pastel rock IN...past the rim hundreds of feet above to the narrow window of turquoise sky, you realize you are suspended above the cobble by the cold, clear waters of the mighty Colorado, still carving the Grand Canyon even as you cast to its quiet pools of trout. A History Lesson t's easy to imagine the others who must have marveled at this mysti- I cal place as they floated down, first on clumsy log rafts, then in heavy wooden dories. John Wesley Powell in 1869 and Padres Dominguez and Esca- lante a hundred years earlier floated through what is now the Lee's Ferry fishery reach of the Colorado. Today they would recognize the ageless canyon, but the river is changed forever. The Colorado begins life as the rain- drops and flakes of snow that fall and pack on the vast snowfields of the Never Summer range of the Rockies. The place at which it becomes flowing water may well be the Lake of the Clouds in Rocky Mountains National Park. But the first real stream it becomes has a more prosaic name, The Grand Ditch, and its waters are first taken here, long before it is anything like a river. That this singularly magnificent wa- tercourse, in existence since the Ceno- zoic Age, is able to escape the State of Colorado at all is a tribute to the huge area it drains (244,000 square miles), and the volume of water it carries. At least 22 major diversions are employed in the state, including the infamous California. The man-made changes the Lee's Ferry boat ramp. The Spanish Big Thompson Project. This phenom- river encounters on its way prevent this priests made the first entries in the ena of engineering and politics deliv- cycle's natural completion. The river chronicle of Lee's Ferry, but the most ers the river's waters out of the basin to will never again see a sea, dammed in- important contributors to the early his- where nature never intended: the arid stead into lakes and canals to be har- tory of the area were Major Powell and Eastern Slope flatlands, via the nine nessed and controlled, its water and a Mormon fugitive from justice. foot by 13 mile Adams Tunnel, bored power bought and sold. The bearded and haggard one- 2,400 feet beneath the Continental Di- Perhaps the changes started with the armed man who stepped ashore near vide. Mormons, the first white men to ma- the mouth of the Paria River on August What isn't siphoned off in Colorado nipulate the river. Helped by Major 4, 1869 was a professor of geology at continues through reclamation dams Powell, they built the first boat used to Illinois Wesleyan, floating the Green and diversions in Utah and Arizona, cross the river. Christened the Canyon and Colorado Rivers ostensibly to study trying to flow to its natural destina- Maid, the historic little scow opened the geology of the canyons. But Powell, tion, the Sea of Cortez, aka the Gulf of the Arizona Territory to settlement by a former Union officer, Civil War hero Mormon pioneers and missionaries. (he lost his right forearm at Shiloh) The river had been crossed but once and future father of the Bureau of Rec- The river will before, 100 years earlier, by the Domin- lamation was also determined to learn never again see guez-Escalante party. They had almost whether the Colorado was navigable all a sea, dammed drowned trying to cross at what is now the way to Mexico. Although he quit Instead into Lee's Ferry, and had to climb back out far short of his goal, his party were the lakes and canals of the canyon and walk many miles up- first white men through the Grand Can- to be harnessed stream to the only other ford. This yon. and controlled, "Crossing of the Fathers" — and the rest The party had left Green River, Wyo- its water and of Glen Canyon — is now on the bottom ming on May 24, 1869 in cumbersome power bought of a vast and unearthly lake. boats designed by Powell himself. Less and sold. The campsite the party used in the than ideal for their purpose, the dories fall of 1776, however, is still discernable did, for the most part, survive the des- just off the paved road to the present perate journey and delivered all but

22 TI-101 'I AUTUMN 1991 stayed onlyovernight,probablycamp- just floated.GlenCanyon'snamere- from thispointhighabovetheriver ing atthesamespotpadreshad encircling afirepit.Perhapsprehistoric climbed tothetopofwhatisknownas on 30August. ordeal atthemouthofVirginRiver could nothaveknownthatthey werein one looksoutuponthespectacularview used acenturyearlier.Inhisjournal, Moqui, thestonesremaintoday,and Lee's LookoutthathotAugustevening, Grand CanyonoftheColorado. Nei- fact campedatthepointexactly mark- he recordedinhisdiary.Restingaround he discoveredanancientringofstones hundred yearslater. mained untilitwasinundatedalmosta nificent canyonthroughwhichtheyhad he notedthenamegavetomag- three ofthegrouptoend AUTUMN the nearbyParia Rapidsbeganthemost ther couldtheyhaveguessed thatwith ing thegeologicalbeginning ofthe the firethatnight,Powellandhismen On thisfirstvisittoLee'sFerry,Powell When crewmemberJackSumner 1991

arch BrighamYounginSaltLakeCity expedition survived.TheColoradowas dangerous legofthejourney.But shifting fortuneswouldbeforevertied City inSeptember1870with40orso schemes. HeandYoungleftSaltLake Powell greatlyadmiredtheMormons water thistimebutplanninghisnext, was backattheconfluenceofColo- for theirworkdevisingirrigation point atwhichtoberesuppliedbypack entourage wasjoinedbyamanwhose church principal,JacobHamblin.The other Mormons,guidedbyanother Powell's; hisnamewasJohnDoyle Lee. to gainthesupportofchurch. train. HehadmetwithMormonpatri- more extensiveexploration. rado andPariarivers,notboatingthe ment ofArizona.Hewasa favorite of "conquered." Andayearlater,Powell construction of theCanyonMaid.Her tember rived atthemouthofParia on the Mormonchurch,andsettle- to thehistoriesofColoradoRiver, Powell hadchosenthePariaas Powell, Young,Hamblinand Leear- 30,withthelumberfor Sep-

PHOTO: MICHAEL COLLIER when theyendedthefirstlegof 1869, however,noneoftheteamcould sorts withboththeNavajoandHopi side oftheriverandtriedtohit Glen Canyon.FrederickDellenbaugh second tripattheParia,havingpulled were namedonthespot.Theyforma left thepartyonseveraloccasionsto expedition movedslowly,andPowell claim anyrealskillasboatmen.The as wellacookandanartist.Asin a crewofreasonablycompetenttopog- considered theGreenwestforkof expedition, whichagainbeganatGreen a stagecoachfromFortDefianceto of Arizona.Theysecuredatreaty across theriverintoNavajocountry and headquarteredforthewinterat and wasfollowedby24secondsofsi- cliffs acrosstheriverwithhis.44 climbed thecanyonwallonnorth out attheCrossingofFathersin River, Wyoming.Likeothers,Powell Hamblin andeightMormonssouth Kanab, Utah.Whentheexpedition Paria, cachedtheboatsandsupplies Remington revolver.Theshotrangout raphers, geologistsandphotographers, men andadventurerswerereplacedby ti mon nations intheinterestoffutureMor- leg ofthejourney,theyfoundmys- regrouped inJune1872forthefinal phy oftheregion. major panoramainthescenictopogra- lence beforethereverberationreturned travel overland.Hewasnotwiththem the Colorado. travel eastandorganizethissecond maiden voyagewastoferryPowell, terious JohnD.Leelivingonthebanks "like therattleofmusketry."EchoCliffs me thehunters,trappers,frontiers- Again, heembarkedinMay,butthis The partycameoffthewaterat settlement. the magnificent almost ahun- Powell notedthe In hisjournal, name hegaveto canyon through remained untilIt Canyon's name dred yearslater. was which theyhad just floated.Glen inundated Powellthenboarded TROt

11 of the Paria with one of his 19 wives and their children. They could not have understood the irony of his presence nor the dark reasons for his being there. When Lee had joined the Young- Powell group enroute from Salt Lake, he had been asked by Young if he would be interested in establishing and operating a ferry on the river. Young was accommodating Powell, of course, but his main interest in the ferry was the expansion of his church into the South- west. And he had reason to select Lee to live and work in this desert outland beyond the pale of established Mor- mon settlement. Lee was a "true be- liever," and deified Young with absolute obedience. Still, Lee was appalled at the suggestion. His response is recorded in a letter to his seventeenth and appar- ent favorite wife, Emma. "I would want no Greater punishment than to be sent on a mission to the Pahariere. I would Turn out Indian at oncet & take no Woman to Such a place." Although Lee saw his banishment as punishment, he was really being exiled in an effort to spare the Mormon Church the embarrassment of the Mountain Meadows massacre of 1857 and to spare Lee his life. Lee was wanted by federal authorities for having led the heinous attack on the Fancher Cedar City, Utah. Leaving the slaugh- and their irrigation expertise led to wagon train from Arkansas. The rea- ter of the women, elderly and older Lee's building and running the only sons for the attack were religious but children to the Paiutes and carting off ferry, which expedited the settlement otherwise unclear; the details, however, 18 smaller children in a gesture of ques- of the Southwest. Lee's farm supported are documented. tionable compassion, the Mormons first Powell's expedition and then the On the morning of September 11, then methodically murdered the emi- subsequent exploitations. These have 1857 Lee and a large contingent of the grant men one-on-one. included travel, mining, tourism, ranch- infamous "Nauvoo Legion" (a vigilante- John Doyle Lee, the religious fanatic, ing, recreational use, and, of course, like group of Mormon men) , joined former tavern keeper, legislator and dam building. forces with several hundred disgruntled judge, was now also a murderer. The After Lee's execution, the Mormon Paiutes. Together, they engaged and 50-plus other assassins went unpun- Church appointed a succession of op- overwhelmed the Fan cher train at ished, absorbed into the Mafia-like se- erators of the ferry and retained own- Mountain Meadows, near present day crecy of the southern Utah Mormon ership of the facility until selling it to villages. Because he failed to attend the Grand Canyon Cattle Company in hearings held by the Church to absolve 1909. The last Mormon operator was Lee's Ferry is itself of the matter, Lee became the Jim Emmett, the man about whom Zane exactly midway scapegoat and, on March 23, 1877, the Grey would write in his story "The Man between the only person ever to come to justice in Who Influenced Me Most." Grey was mountain origins the affair. He was executed by U.S. mili- ferried across the river by Emmett in of the Colorado tary firing squad after digging his own 1907, on his way to House Rock Ranch and its mouth at grave at the site of the massacre, Moun- with J. C. "Buffaloe" Jones. Grey was the Sea of Cortez. tain Meadows. completely taken with Arizona and the All mileages on This colorful history serves to illumi- rugged country around Grand Canyon the river, up- nate the connections leading to the and the ferry. His book The Last of the stream and down, establishment and subsequent endan- Plainsmen was a biography of Jones and use Lee's Ferry as germent of today's Lee's Ferry fishery. his first hugely successful western ro- mile zero. Powell's admiration of the Mormons mance, The Heritage of theDesert, is based

TROUT AUTUMN 1991 Ferry, issued an influential report list- ing their choices of dam locations. Sev- eral of these preferred sites later proved poor places to place a dam, but by 1947 the engineers had selected a site 15.3 miles upriver of Lee's Ferry at Glen Canyon. The location of Glen Canyon was doubly critical. The walls of the canyon could not contain the unstable Chinle shale so abundant around Lee's Ferry and the dam had to be well upstream of the dividing point of the upper and lower Colorado basin states. Lee's Ferry is exactly midway between the mountain origins of the Colorado and its mouth at the Sea of Cortez. All mileages on the river, upstream and down, use Lee's Ferry as mile zero. It is here that the river's flow is gauged by the U.S. Geological Survey. This measure- ment determines how the Colorado's relatively low average 15 million acre- feet of water per year will be used. The seven states comprising the river's drainage is indeed an arid region, averaging less than 10 inches of rain per year. Irrigation is intrinsically inefficient in such a high, hot, dry area; each of the states has looked more and more to the Colorado for water. As the feasibility of a major dam on on his experiences and observations of ing number of reclamationists who had the river was realized, the War for the the outlaws, Indians and Mormon set- the ear of the White House. With the Water escalated, with California hold- tlers around Lee's Ferry. help of Theodore Roosevelt they se- ing the best hand. The state's explod- With publication of Grey's best sell- cured, in 1902, the landmark Newlands ing population and high tax base ers, the area grew in popularity with Reclamation Act providing direct fed- generated political clout, but more im- tourists and adventurers. The river was eral funding for construction of recla- portant was the archaic doctrine of "first seen as irrigation water for the growing mation projects. To do the work, in time, first in right." To counter number of settlements and ranches. Congress created the agency destined California's claim — and thirst — and to Thus it was that a fugitive's farm and to become the bulwark of western de- apportion the resource equitably, the ferry became the gateway to the arid velopment, the Bureau of Reclamation. other basin states proposed The Colo- Southwest and a staging area for the The BOR's transformation of the rado River Compact signed in 1922 in ultimate manipulations of the Colorado West began immediately. Starting with Santa Fe. It has been the foundation of River — the dams. Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River in Ari- the Law of the River ever since. zona, the Bureau went on to become the mainspring of development. By the The Dam Giveth Twenties, these massive government Irrigation is projects, ostensibly designed as flood intTinsically ederal government interest in "rec- control and water storage/irrigation ineffident in lamation" began in 1878 with pub- schemes, began to grow into convo- such a high, hot, F lication of Powell's Report on the luted "multiple use" programs of hy- dry area; each of Lands ofthe Arid Region of the U.S. Powell dropower generation and interstate the states has called for the development of irrigable agreements for the allocation of water. looked more areas and won creation of the United As early as the end of World War I and more to the States Geological Survey, which he then engineers felt confident enough to con- Colorado for directed for 13 years. From his desk at sider placing a major dam in a Colo- water. USGS, he maintained close ties, politi- rado River canyon. In 1916, hydrologists cally and professionally, with the grow- of the USGS, operating from Lee's

AUTUMN 1991 TROUT a As the states could not agree on a state-by-state apportionment, they divided the water into what they thought were nearly equal portions between upper and lower basins. Lee's Ferry was the natural "Compact Point" and water guaranteed to the lower basin is measured at the USGS gauge as it passes from upper to lower basin. But California and, in particular, Los Angeles, wanted more than just flood protection and water supply. Anticipat- ing the Glen Canyon dam and power- plant, Southern California Edison and the Geological Survey began the serious exploration of dam sites in July 1921. By 1925 the USGS had selected sites which included the Glen and Black Canyons. Arguments for a site closer to the market, however, prevailed — the power lines would be shorter by far — and in 1928 Hoover Dam was approved. For a time, the dam builders moved out of Lee's Ferry and turned their attention downriver. Also in 1928, the first bridge across the Grand Canyon was completed at Marble Canyon, four miles downstream from the ferry. Navajo Bridge, origi- nally called the Lee's Ferry Bridge, pre- cluded the need for a ferry. Tragically, the ferry's last run ended Canyon. In a move now seen as a mile- in disaster. On June 7, 1928, weakened ment to the other side of the river, his stone of environmentalism, the Sierra by months of overloading with steel trucks hauled it 800 miles through Club bought full page ads in The New and trucks used in the bridge building, Needles, California to a destination only Yu,* Times and the Washington Post and the ferry capsized mid-stream with the about 800 feet from the starting point! in June the headline "Only You Can loss of three lives. As the bridge was Meanwhile, the upper basin states Save the Grand Canyon — From Being nearly completed the ferry was not put grew concerned for their own water Flooded — For Profit!" initiated a flood back into service. The boat itself had storage projects. Only one site provided of its own in the form of protests aimed been carried downstream and was an area vast enough to impound suffi- at stopping further development of the dashed to pieces on the rocks. From cient water in wet years to provide the Grand Canyon. In 1968, Congress June to January 1929 no one could agreed upon volume past that gauge at passed Public Law 90-537 which pro- cross the river between Moab, Utah Lee's Ferry. Everyone wanted a piece hibits not only the construction but the and points below the Grand Canyon. of the Colorado, then as now, regard- study of hydroelectric dams in the Can- When the contractor had to send equip- less of the damage to the river system yon without Congressional approval. or the environment. Developers, politi- In 1975, President Ford signed the cians and bureaucrats finally began to Grand Canyon Enlargement Act incor- In 1966, Bureau meet with opposition from an embry- porating the whole of both Grand and of Reclamation onic environmental movement when Marble Canyons into the Grand Can- plans called for they attempted to flood Dinosaur Na- yon National Park, effectively prohibit- the construction tional Monument at Echo Park on the ing any further dam building in that of two dams — Green River, but there have been as- part of the Colorado River System. Marble Canyon saults on the Grand Canyon itself. So the upper basin states had to settle Dam and Bridge As late as 1966, Bureau of Reclama- for Glen Canyon dam, begun in Octo- Canyon Dam — tion plans called for the construction ber 1956, and Flaming Gorge and Na- which would of two dams — at Mile 39.5, the Marble vajo dams. Powerfill Congressmen like have flooded Canyon Dam, and at Mile 236, the Wayne Aspinall of Colorado, working 1 50 miles of the Bridge Canyon Dam — which would in collusion with the BOR, were able to Grand Canyon. have flooded 150 miles of the Grand secure federal funding for massive irri-

TROUT AUTUMN 1991 And The Dam Taketh Away hen John Doyle Lee fished the Colorado to help feed W his huge family (19 wives, remember), he may have caught Colo- rado squawfish — "Arizona Salmon" as the pioneers called them — or the now- endangered humpback chub, bonytail chub or perhaps razorback suckers, but he didn't catch trout. There were no trout in the river then. When Glen Canyon Dam was closed on the Colorado River in 1963 it sealed forever the majestic beauty and little known history of Glen Canyon beneath the deepening waters and accumulat- ing silt of Lake Powell. One wonders if the Major would approve of his name- sake lake. Seven hundred and ten feet high, built of five million cubic yards of concrete, the ugly dam corralled the river into an inland sea 186 miles long with 2,000 miles of shoreline. By the time the lake filled 17 years later, in 1980, it was ready to fulfill its priority of purposes. The Colorado River Storage Project Act became law in 1956. It authorized the Secretary of the Interior to con- struct, operate and maintain four stor- gation projects, even though such irri- its plumbing system. The BOR boasts age projects and 11 irrigation projects. gation schemes are highly inefficient of 10 million acres under irrigation on One was Glen Canyon Dam. The stated and their cost effectiveness minimal. In 150,000, mostly corporate, farms. Add priorities of these projects are: (1) To the West, water flows toward the rich urban water supply from the Colorado regulate the flow of the Colorado River, and powerful. system and the Bureau can easily claim (2) To store water for beneficial con- With the upper basin dams, the up- to be the most vital sponsor of western sumptive use, (3) To provide for the stream states were assured of their share desert "growth." The dark, down side reclamation of arid and semi-arid land, of the beleaguered Colorado's bounty, to this highly propagandized seeming and (4) To generate hydroelectric and so, for a time, were metropolitan success story, however, has been emerg- power as an incident of the foregoing pur- southern California and the agribusi- ing for decades, even as the dams were poses. Note that hydropower produc- nessmen of the Imperial, Cochella and being built. Ever more frequently, dan- tion is listed as the last priority, intended Central valleys, the most elaborately ir- gerous environmental incongruities are only as a means of paying for the con- rigated areas on earth. Utah schemed evidenced. struction and operation of the dam. the Central Utah Project, Arizona finally In an age of increasing production By the time Lake Powell had filled in managed to politic the colossal Central costs and growing crop surpluses, of Arizona Project, and water from the which Arizona cotton is a prime ex- distant Colorado began sluicing its way ample, it is difficult to justify supplying If, as historian the hundreds of unnatural concrete- desert agribusiness with expensively di- Donald Worster lined miles to subsidize the depleted verted water for which taxpayers have says, the West ground water supplies of Phoenix and borne the costs. And in the case of the has become a Tucson. This specious subsidy has al- Glen Canyon Dam, especially, the mul- Hydraulic lowed the exploding urban population tiplicity of environmental problems is Society, the of Arizona the dubious luxury of the growing more and more complex. The Colorado has eighth-highest per capita rates of water original manipulations of the Rio Colo- been turned into usage in the country. rado have created benefits like the its plumbing If, as historian Donald Worster says, tailwater trout fishery that current, system. the West has become a Hydraulic Soci- more byzantine machinations now ety, the Colorado has been turned into threaten to destroy.

AUTUMN 1991 TROUT 1980, however, these priorities had become exactly reversed. In the Criteria for Coordinated Long-Range Opera- tion of the Colorado Reservoirs, the daily operating plan, the uses are listed as "...flood control, river regulation, beneficial consumptive uses, power production, water quality control, recre- ation, enhancement of fish and wildlife and other environmental factors." The so-called Law of the River is, of course, several laws, acts, pacts and documents and the dam operations are prioritized differently in each. As these stated purposes are all more or less opposed to one another, the question of primacy arises as it does in all applications of the "multiple use" philosophy of bureaucratic management. The closure of Glen Canyon Dam greatly degraded the ecosystem of the Grand Canyon. The most immediate alteration was in the character of the river water itself. Now the river ran clear, sediment having settled in the lake. It ran cold, and in most respects was highly conducive to the establishment of a tailrace trout fishery. The potential of the "new" Colorado was immediately recognized by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, who began stocking filled during the 1960s and '70s, the instantaneous demand and the Bureau the river with "catchable" rainbows of releases from the dam were relatively turned its attention ever more to the the Bel Air and Kamloops persuasion constant and the fluctuations gentle. production of power for the burgeon- soon after the dam was closed. The 46- to 48-degree water tempera- ing and increasingly urban mega-cities This cold, clear water forced the na- tures were well suited to salmonids. of the Southwest. Releases from the tive humpback chub downstream to the When freshwater shrimp (Gammarus dam became less a function of water mouth of the Little Colorado and Locustris) were introduced as trout food storage, irrigation and flood control doomed the native bonytail chub and in 1968, the fishery began to thrive. and more responsive to the lights, ap- razorback suckers to the lists of the The Arizona Game and Fish Depart- pliances, toys and air conditioners of endangered. These species, so at home ment began stocking rainbow finger- big cities as they were turned on in the in the formerly turbid and seasonably lings in 1976 and brook trout in 1977. morning and off at night. The ebb and warm Colorado (so named for the red- By the heyday of Lee's Ferry, 1978-80, flow of the Colorado, already out of dish coloration by runoff sediment) , the fishery produced a state record five equilibrium, began the drastic and dra- were gradually replaced by the exotic and a half pound brookie and trophy matic fluctuations that have been erod- rainbow trout. As Lake Powell slowly rainbows of more than 18 pounds! ing the ecosystems of both the Lee's Stocking records are sketchy, but Ferry fishery and the Grand Canyon browns and cutthroats have, from time ever since. The Arizona to time, found their way into the mix of When the United States Department Game and Fish this primarily rainbow reach of the river. of Energy was created in 1977, all power Department The halcyon days of the late '70s marketing was transferred from Recla- began stocking were short-lived, however. The lake mation to the newly formed Western the river with filled by 1980, and in 1982 the priority Area Power Administration. Power bro- "catchable" given by the Bureau of Reclamation to kers in the truest sense, Western, or rainbows of the hydroelectric power generation was WAPA, as it is also known, sells the en- Bel Air and manifest in the upgrading and rewind- ergy generated by Glen Canyon and Kamloops ing of the turbines and generators of the other Colorado River Storage persuasion soon Glen Canyon Dam. With these modifi- Project powerplants to customers in six after the dam cations, the dam became a "peaking states. Glen Canyon produces about 78 was closed. power" facility, generating power upon percent of the CRSP capacity, but CRSP

TROUT AUTUMN 1991 That these impacts needed serious study and immediate mitigation was obvious to Lee's Ferry anglers who ar- rived early on the river to watch trout flopping in the puddles left by the fast falling water. The dried eggs in desiccated redds and shrinking carcasses of fine rainbows are mute but irrefutable evidence of the destruction wrought by the dam's insensitive and profit-driven operation. Environmentalists and river runners joined fishermen and lovers of the Grand Canyon and its wildlife in protest. The ensuing publicity finally led to a response, of sorts, from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Left alone, bureaucracies perpetu- ate the status quo. Reclamation has never considered environmental research and concerns part of its mission; scientific understanding of the results of dam operations, therefore, has been sadly lacking. The initiation of a NEPA EIS threatened modification of the rapid ramping rates required for peak power generation and thus was resisted by the Reagan Administration. Interior Secre- tary James Watt responded to this co- nundrum by ordering Reclamation to initiate the eight years of stonewalling known as the Glen Canyon Environ- is only a fraction of WAPA. The com- The effects of these fluctuations also mental Studies. puterized sales transactions are trans- can be seen in the difference in the While accomplishing the purposes mitted to the dam and the state of the growth rates of the rainbows from 1980 of forestalling a full- fledged NEPA study art turbines respond immediately, liter- to the present: one inch per month 10 and allowing the dam to continue op- ally on a minute-by-minute basis. Fluc- years ago, according to the Arizona erating exclusively for peak power gen- tuating accordingly, the river's flow thus Game and Fish Department, yet only eration, the GCES failed its scientific varies from an insufficient 1,000 cubic one-half inch per month now. While objectives, owing in part to serious flaws feet per second during the winter rain- the relationship between the peaking in the study itself, and to the vagaries of bow spawning season, to as much as power discharge regimen and the weather. In the scant two years allotted 31,500 cfs in the blistering desert sum- aquatic food chain is less than fully the Arizona Game and Fish Depart- mer when millions of air conditioners understood, the effects of the past de- ment portion of the study, the dam, strain to create livable, if artificial, home cade of dam operation are obvious in being full to the brim, had to be oper- and office temperatures. the decline of the fishery. ated in the full flood mode. The winter These drastic fluctuations cause the By 1982 it was clear that the opera- of 1981 and the spring of 1982 brought river to rise or fall as much as 13 feet at tion of Glen Canyon Dam was degrad- a time, endangering anglers, rafters and ing not only the Lee's Ferry fishery, but other river recreationists, and scouring the ecosystem of the entire Grand Can- Trout are the beaches downstream in the Grand yon as well. The National Park Service stranded and Canyon. As the sand and sediment is had been sued in 1974 by operators of redds desiccated alternatively pushed and settled in re- float trips through the canyon; while a by the rapidly sponse to the river's rise and fall, the Utah District Court refused to restrict falling water. wave-like action continually rearranges the vastly fluctuating flows, the case did The equally both riparian and riverine habitats. raise the question of compliance with rapid rising Trout are stranded and redds desic- the 1969 National Environmental Policy water washes cated by the rapidly falling water. The Act. Section 102 of NEPA requires an away precious equally rapid rising water washes away Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) eggs and carries precious eggs and carries fry away down- for federal projects that affect the envi- fry away downstream. ronment. stream.

AUTUMN 1991 TRO1 T record precipitation to the Colorado's free to operate Glen Canyon Dam as a the "additional input and expertise" of drainage. For the first time Reclama- cash register, it is not bound by law to WAPA, the Lower Colorado Region of tion was forced to do what it is loathe to do so" and points out that the Bureau the Bureau itself, paid private consult- do: bypass the money-producing tur- overstates the extent to which the Law ants, and, as if an afterthought, the bines and open the floodgates. of the River prevents it from modifying public. The study was divided into two Under these maximum discharge dam operations. And while the NRC teams, environmental and economic, conditions, bypass tubes and spillways review praises the work done by the with an Interior-appointment "techni- open, the dam gorges the Glen and other participating agencies of the cal integration group" having the diffi- Grand Canyons with over 256,100 cfs study, including the Arizona Game and cult job of combining the opposing of water. The river bed was scoured Fish Department, the U.S. Fish and results into a cohesive, if confusing, re- into a state of total disequilibrium, the Wildlife Service, the Geological Survey port But the data and information so fishery was virtually flushed away and and the National Park Service, it is sorely needed by the environmental what "studies" as could be conducted highly critical of the recalcitrant ap- team, especially concerning the Lee's were limited to the highest possible proach taken by the lead agency, Recla- Ferry fishery, has been extremely diffi- water conditions. mation. cult to acquire, thanks to the Catch-22 This first major spill from Lake Powell The upgrade and rewind program of the Interior Directive: impaired the entire GCES. When the begun in 1983, which raised the peak 'The data required for these studies study was ended (not completed) in of the peaking power capability of the will be acquired during normal opera- 1987, it was reviewed by the National dam to 33,100 cfs, was completed in tion of the Glen Canyon Dam...the tim- Research Council of the National Acad- 1987. The Glen Canyon Environmen- ing of the studies will be...worked into emy of Science at Interior's request. tal Studies, interestingly, ended at the the release programs of the Bureau of The NRC was also asked for advice on same time. With publication of the Reclamation and Western Area Power alternative operation schemes for Glen GCES final report in 1988, scientists, Administration. You should make ev- Canyon Dam. Conducted by no less anglers and environmentalists had a ery effort to eliminate any impact on learned scientists than the Water Sci- modicum of scientific proof of what normal power operations." ence and Technology Board, the re- they already knew — that the operation The Administration had changed; view is highly critical and the advice has of the dam for generation of the most the philosophy had not. Interior and been largely ignored. and cheapest electricity was severely Reclamation have made it clear that Titled River and Dam Management by damaging the resource, and that they hydropower generation remains the National Academy Press in 1987, the still did not know enough or have highest priority in their operation of review begins by noting that science enough influence in Washington to the Glen Canyon Dam. and technology had been used to "...de- force Reclamation to modify dam op- The GCES Phases II and III imple- velop the resource" and so "...perhaps erations sufficiently to mitigate the dam- mentation plan outlines Interior's op- science ought to be applied to make age. tions, saying these alternatives "could assessments and predictions of the long- In order to avoid the public involve- include but not be limited to: 'con- term results of the development" But ment and other mandates of a full struction of a re-regulation dam at Lee's the preface continues, calling assess- NEPA sanctioned EIS, Interior ordered Ferry, establishment of additional trans- ments "...difficult, because the GCES a continuation of the GCES "assess- portation access points, operational objectives were not clearly articulated ment" and issued a directive initiating changes, installation of a multiple-level at the beginning, scientific objectives Phase II of the studies in June 1988. outlet structure and no action.' That were confused with management/poli- The directive specifies that efforts be the Administration's preferred alterna- cy objectives, and objectives changed focused on two key areas: (1) The ef- tive was "no action" became increas- during the course of the study." The fects of both low and fluctuating flows ingly clear as the studies dragged on, NRC review also notes that "...although on endangered fish species, the trout hampered by flow rates that could not the Bureau of Reclamation has been fishery, and beach aggradation and deg- be altered "...supposedly," says the NRC, radation, and (2) detailed economic "because of WAPA requirements." analysis of operations options. Of Interior's self-defined options only "...although the This dichotomy of purpose was not operational changes will surely benefit Bureau of Recla- lost on the public who follow the rise the Lee's Ferry fishery and the Grand mation has been and fall of the Colorado River. At the Canyon. The additional access points free to operate constituent meetings held to gather ver- could benefit drift boat anglers but Glen Canyon bal comment, Trout Unlimited (Ari- would contribute to crowding and over- Dam as a cash zona State Council), Sierra Club, use of the fishery reach of the river. register, it is not National Wildlife Federation, Ameri- Any increase in recreational use com- bound by law to can Rivers, the Western River Guides pounds the damage being done by the do so." Association, the Grand Canyon Trust, dam. The costly retrofitting of a mul- and other organizations all clamored tiple-outlet structure could modify the for a full NEPA EIS. water temperature — which may or may The Bureau's response was to enlist not benefit the fishery — but would do

TROUT AUTUMN 1991 nothing to mitigate the effects of rapid limited's Arizona chapters closed ranks water to the giant agribusinesses of the fluctuations. The present 47-degree with other state and national conserva- lower basin states. Daily fluctuations Fahrenheit average is just to the cool tion groups and fishing clubs to fan the reached thousands of cubic feet per side of ideal for the rainbow popula- flames of a grassroots campaign for a second. Angler success decreased as tion, and too little is known about the full-fledged NEPA Environmental Im- fishermen chased fewer and smaller nutrient dynamics of Lake Powell to pact Study. Thousands of letters began trout in the ever rising or falling water. experiment with change. The two re- to pour into the offices of Congress- The fishery suffers first then, as the maining BOR alternatives, the re-regu- men such as Senator Bill Bradley of tidal bore of peaking power generation lation dam and "no action" are both New Jersey and Senators John McCain overtakes the early morning trickle to totally unacceptable to Trout Unlim- and Dennis DeConcini of Arizona. At roll down into the canyon, beaches and ited and the other organizations public comment meetings, the rooms riparian habitat are carried downstream fighting for the life of the fishery and were full of angry public demanding to scour and erode the Grand Canyon the canyon. To them, the scientists of an EIS and interim flows. BOR was until they finally settle on the bottom the studies, a growing number of supported, predictably, by the power of rapidly siltifying Lake Mead. Congressmen, the public and the press, brokers and utility interests and stood From the vistas of the south rim of the only alternative is changes in the by its guns, secure in the backing of the Grand Canyon most of the park's four philosophy of the Interior Department Bush Administration and Interior Sec- million annual visitors can't even see and changes in the operation of the retary Lujan. The scientists of the GCES the Colorado River, much less the dam- dam. labored on, trying to learn what they age being done to both. Most of those could in the brief periods the river's visitors are from foreign countries and fluctuations allowed. few are aware of the crisis taking place Political Science Working under such conditions was in the bottom of the canyon. Lee's Ferry particularly hard on the Arizona Game anglers and guides, the Grand Canyon's 'though the degradation of the and Fish Department, under whose ju- boatmen and women and their clients, fishery and the Canyon had risdiction falls the fate of trout in the however, are intimately connected to A begun with the filling of Lake Lee's Ferry fishery. Joe Janisch, head of the whole ecosystem and have spear- Powell in 1980 and the Bureau's policy the Arizona Game and Fish Depart- headed the effort to inform the public. of keeping it full, public outrage did ment Fisheries Branch, cites the dam's The young Lee's Ferry trophy trout not reach full cry until publication of widely fluctuating releases and rapid fishery is hardly known outside the the Glen Canyon Environmental Stud- ramping rates as a major reason for the Southwest except among angling ies final report in 1988. low 27 percent reproduction rate of cognoscenti, but the Grand Canyon That dam operations were adversely the rainbow trout plantings. holds the world in awe. Public pressure impacting the downstream environ- "These fish spawn from autumn to began to prevail, it seemed, in August ment had long been verified by science spring," says Janisch, "and they can't be 1989 when Secretary Lujan deferred to and user observation, but the Bureau, hurried. We lose a significant number Congressmen of Arizona's and other arrogantly smug in the autonomous im- of fish due to low flow stranding and states' delegations and ordered the En- munity it has traditionally enjoyed, redd desiccation. The high flows cause vironmental Impact Statement. The failed to act. The "further studies" and loss of fry and wash-out of the spawn- process the BOR had evaded for nearly the refusal to modify flows to facilitate ing beds. We don't know much about a decade could now begin, and at last them were seen as more stonewalling. other flow rates and won't, until we get the public would be involved. In December 1988, Trout Unlimited, some." Meanwhile, it was business as usual the National Wildlife Federation, the Frustrated with the politics of pro- at the Bureau's "cash register" dam. At Grand Canyon Trust, American Rivers, crastination, Janisch decries the the EIS public scoping sessions held in and the Western River Guides Associa- Bureau's failure to cooperate with its seven cities in March 1990, Trout Un- tion filed suit in the Utah U.S. District own studies by providing all the flows limited and the environmentalists were Court against the Western Area Power the scientists need in order to learn Administration and the Department of what they must. Says Janisch, "It's the Energy. In April 1989 Judge Thomas J. difference between working with the Angler success Greene enjoined the DOE from sign- best available data or settling for the decreased as ing long-term contracts for power gen- only available data." fishermen erated by Glen Canyon Dam. Greene As the scientists toiled on following chased fewer ruled that the WAPA must prepare an the fishery's peripetatic waterline, the and smaller environmental impact statement ad- weather of the Colorado Plateau grew trout in the ever dressing the environmental effects of drier and precipitation diminished into rising or falling energy marketing policies and dam op- drought. The Bureau could no longer water. erations before new contracts are let. adhere to its policy of keeping the res- Encouraged by this ruling and the ervoir full to the brim to maintain a rising tide of environmental awareness "head" for power generation or sup- at the end of the decade, Trout Un- port the over-allocation of irrigation

AUTUMN 1991 TROUT joined by previously non-aligned public interests clamoring for immediate interim study flows and flood control (a dam maintained for maximum storage capacity will fail and has failed its flood control mission). Trout Unlim- ited, other conservation groups, fishing clubs and the scientists of the study teams all argued for flows and ramping • rates that would enable the study teams to determine "ideal" flow regimens for all concerned. The response from the BOR/public power cartel was predict- able: Maintaining that the EIS was enough, the Bureau and WAPA set about trying to convince Congress and the public that the cost of electricity to consumers would skyrocket if any operational changes were made. Again Secretary Lujan refused interim flows. The Bureau dug in for a long, hard fight, counting on the backing of the Bush Administration and the addiction of its corporate customers to cheap, government-subsidized water and power. Lujan had ordered the EIS under duress from Congress, but the Bu- reau still ran the dam. Everyone would just have to work around their flow schedules. Although EIS studies have taken an average of five years, Reclamation proposed that the Glen Canyon Study could be done in two, using data from the GCES. This work, of course, had been done while flows were in flood or widely fluctuating. Steady or moderately ies. Newspaper articles began to ap- Park, to eliminate the possibility of fluctuating flows had not been evalu- pear throughout the country. Congress- flooding and to set interim flow levels, ated. The scientists doubted they could men read letters and made raft trips effective until the EIS was completed. produce a valid EIS in the short time through the canyon. On March 25, The bill had 29 co-sponsors, but allotted and without the data gathered Senator Bill Bradley, D-NJ, wrote Lujan, Arizona's delegation was divided. In from within certain flow parameters. formally requesting interim flows on hearings of the House Interior Sub- But the NEPA EIS generated far more behalf of both the environment and committee Miller chairs, he heard tes- publicity than had earlier Bureau stud- the studies. Bradley pointed out that timony from environmentalists, the util- more than enough science existed to ity interest, and Arizona Congressmen, justify immediate mitigation of the dam- some of whom said the bill would actu- Trout Unlimited age the dam was doing. ally impede the studies and efforts to- argued for flows If Manuel Lujan could not read the ward a permanent solution! and ramping writing on the wall, perhaps the print "This legislation mandates that the rates that would of the Congressional record would be Secretary establish interim flows within enable the study more legible. On April 4, 1990, Repre- 90 days," said Representative Jay teams to deter- sentative George Miller, D-CA, intro- Rhodes, R-AZ, and then added, with mine "ideal" flow duced HR 4498 and the politics of the unfathomable logic, 'That says to me regimens for all Colorado River rounded an important that the EIS is out the window." Rhodes concerned. bend. Miller's bill called for reauthori- and Representative Jon Kyl, also a Re- zation of the dam to prioritize the re- publican, had met with Lujan and sources of the Glen Canyon Recrea- agreed on the establishment of mini- tional Area and Grand Canyon National mum flows at the end of the study pe-

TROI T AUTUMN 1991 nod, probably July of 1991. Even this Congressmen threatened subpoenas, any significant wild trout production. was a concession brought about by pres- adding, 'We have a right to expect coop- But Spear stopped short of supporting sure from Trout Unlimited and the eration." Lujan had sent BOR commis- the McCain bill, prompting some study Grand Canyon Trust. Citing the sioner Dennis Underwood to testify but team members to suggest he had been Bureau's long history of "recalcitrance the subcommittees had refused to hear restrained by his superiors. Others who and intransigence," Craig Parker, VP of him. 'This is a department that speaks testified were less confident of the ad- the Trust, said, 'The only way around with one voice," fibbed Steven Gold- ministration and of Secretary Lujan's that is for the Congress to order the stein, Interior's spokesman, but the judgment, given the history of his ten- Interior Secretary to do it" (order the hearings were recessed until such time ure and strongly advised Congressional interim flows). as all agencies could agree to cooper- action to ensure wiser stewardship of Testimony from the utility interests ate. the resource in the future. dealt mostly with economic concerns Such stalling tactics were wearing thin Edward M. Norton, Jr. is President of even though utility rates are not an as the summer of 1990 wore on. As the the Grand Canyon Trust. He told com- issue in an EIS. The cost of the re- battle lines were drawn, the forces of mittee members the Trust supported search will be borne, appropriately, by reason gained both troops and ground. the Act because it addresses not only the utilities. Representative Mo Udall, D-AZ, had environmental problems, but "...an According to Michael Curtis of the been in Congress when the dam was equally serious governmental problem Arizona Municipal Power Users, emer- built and had supported its authoriza- — the reluctance and willful refusal of gency flow restrictions would add un- tion, as had his brother, Stewart, then the BOR and WAPA to confront and necessarily to Arizona's power bills, Secretary of the Interior. Udall was now change policies and practices causing although he didn't say how much. And a Congressional institution and Chair- damage to the resources." Norton said Curtis doubts the dam's releases and man of the powerful House Interior the Act "resolves once and for all the ramping rates injure the fishery or the Committee. Voicing his support of issues of priorities and purposes that canyon. With characteristic insensitiv- Miller's bill, Udall said, 'We must move the Secretary of the Interior must ad- ity, Curtis asked, "When was the last aggressively to arrest the further degra- dress. The policy that power genera- time someone went to the edge of the dation of this irreplaceable national tion has complete and total primacy canyon and said the view was percepti- treasure by operating the darn as a good over all other values and uses of the bly worse?" Curtis' less than astute ques- neighbor, not as a daily threat." Colorado River has haunted this con- tion addresses a parallel problem Edward Osann, Director of Water troversy like a ghoulish omnipresence, caused by yet another power plant, the Resources for the National Wildlife Fed- wreaking havoc on the downstream en- coal-burning Navajo facility near Page, eration, also urged immediate action, vironment. This Act drives a stake Arizona. The Navajo plant, a base load saying the bill followed "...more than through the heart of that policy." operation, as opposed to the dam's 15 years of litigation, scientific study But perhaps the most telling testi- peaking power type, has been contrib- and bureaucratic foot-dragging regard- mony came from the man who is John uting to the rapid deterioration of the ing the ongoing adverse impacts to the D. Lee's great-grandson and who was air quality on the Colorado plateau. Grand Canyon, directly resulting from Interior Secretary during the apex of The prevailing winds carry the pollu- operations at Glen Canyon Dam." the BOR's paroxysm of dam building tion down the Grand Canyon and, as Meanwhile, Arizona Senator John in the early Sixties: Stewart Udall. The Curtis must know, worsen the view. McCain introduced a stronger version former cabinet member has undergone Support for the cavalier attitude of of the legislation, SB 2807, calling it the some philosophical reversals as he has the Bureau, WAPA and the utility inter- Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1990. aged, and now serves as a board mem- est was eroding like the beaches of the The bill was co-sponsored by Dennis ber of the Grand Canyon Trust. Said river. Determined to maintain the sta- DeConcini, R-AZ, and Bill Bradley, D- Udall: "My purpose in testifying this tus quo as long as possible, the Depart- NJ, but it appears to be McCain who is morning is not to rekindle old debates ments of Energy and the Interior most protective of the resource. The and antagonisms about Glen Canyon attempted an end run around Con- bill was in the hopper in June and in gress. When Miller convened joint hear- July the subcommittee on Water and ings of the subcommittees on National Power held hearings "We must move Parks and Water, Power and Offshore Among those testifying was Michael aggressively to Resources in April, Interior withheld Spear, Regional Director of the U.S. arrest the further the critical testimony of the Park Ser- Fish and Wildlife Service. Spear called degradation of vice and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- for immediate interim flows, pointing this irreplace- vice. out that 'The dam has greatly altered able national An infuriated Miller and colleague the hydrology of this segment of the treasure by Representative Bruce Vento, D-MN, river" and had "adverse impacts on operating the wrote Lujan again. "We cannot con- fishery resources." Spear said prelimi- dam as a good done your decision to limit Congress' nary estimates indicate that at least neighbor, not as access to the information we need to 8,000 cfs may be necessary between a daily threat." make an informed decision." The December and March if there is to be

AUTUMN 1991 TROUT Savings andLoandebacle,Congress $350,000 forthenSenatorPeteWilson, went homeforChristmasleavingInte- antique senatorialprivilegewhichal- Day drewtoaclosewithwarclouds son thankedhismegafarmerbene- vices andtheColoradoRiverto who wasleavingtheSenateandrun- rior andReclamationtotheirownde- gathering overBabylonandhearings lows amembertoputholdonlegisla- factors bysingle-handedlytorpedoing pro quo. bureaucracy's tendermercies. being heldtofocusculpabilityinthe businessmen, ledbytheworld'slargest cotton grower,J.G.Boswell.Boswelland against Millerandhisbillwasacoali- eral waterandpowersubsidies.Arrayed designed toplugthemanyloopholes California districthosttomyriadenvi- Colorado River." Grand CanyonProtectionActof1990, Miller hadincludedreformsinhisbill yon andthefishery,ofpolitics which Ibelieveisnecessarytoprotect tion whilethesessionrunsdown. the omnibusbill.Hesimplyinvokedan ning forGovernorofCalifornia.Wil- his boyshadraised,inoneevening, large-scale corporateagribusiness. ronmental nightmaresensuingfrom failed, avictim,liketheriver,can- our planet,theGrandCanyonof one ofthegreatestnaturalwonders by whichthecorporationscontinued tion ofwealthyandinfluentialagri- to qualifyformillionsofdollarsinfed- power andatypicallypork-barrel Dam andthewisdom,orratherlack to expressmystrongsupportforthe thereof, ofbuildingit.RatherIamhere :1

1 As thetwentiethanniversaryofEarth George Millerrepresentsacentral But theGrandCanyonActof1990 TROUT The Department's Ferry fisheryare management managed under the Arizona Game &Fish concept. of theLee's "Blue Ribbon" 15.8 miles quid

PHOTO: D. K.ZINN M search. Theseincludedthree-dayflows which allowthedryingofalgae beds 1990 theBureauofReclamationfinally of 5,000cfs—quitedifferentfromthe and thustheremovaloffood forthe are compoundedbythelow study flows emaciated, starvinginanalteredhabi- evidently upsetthefoodchaineven Fish Department,theflow-related prob- short, modifiedflowschedulesforre- pulsing variationsthetroutwereused protein-rich freshwatershrimp upon lems oferosionandredddesiccation ing troutwhichwerecigar-shapedand low flow.Byautumn,anglerswerecatch- more andproventhedamagedoneby balance witheachnewmanipulation. demands ofthestudyteamandallowed acquiesced topublicpressureandthe even astheriverrunsshallow.InJune crisis oftheLee'sFerryfisherydeepens tat whichwasgrowingfurtheroutof tal ImpactStatement,theseflowshave to. WhileessentialtotheEnvironmen- A Fishery,IfYouCanKeepIt According totheArizonaGameand eanwhile, reaucrats andpoliticians,the pedalian tergiversationofbu- despite thesesqui- cline. alarming exampleofthefishery'sde- skinny fishcausedconsiderable bad search forsolutionscontinues.Parasites scheduled tocontinueuntilthestudy whether thesmallwormsareaneffect glers, itinjuresguidesand local busi- 22-inch slotandtwodeadfishlimit ued feeding,buttheresultisanother While mostguidesarephilosophical in of poordietorthecausediscontin- cialist forArizonaGameandFishDe- decreasing resources,whilethetrout contributed totheproblembyincreas- ends. Withthehabitatsodisrupted, affected bythestudyflows,theyare press andaresultantlossof bookings. nesses financially.Thepoor fishing and the emaciatedtrout.Itisn'tknown have beenfoundintheintestinesof having morefishthangroceries." partment explains,"Weendedup more food.AsLarryRiley,the themselves grewlargerandrequired ing competitionamongthetroutfor is nodoubtthefoodchainseverely (only onemaybe22inches),have the newregulations,whichseta16-to This declinenotonlyconfounds an- And theproblemsproliferateas which troutfeed.Whilethere AUTUMN EIS spe- 1991 for goodscience,theyquestionwhy streams and2,923acresoflakescon- concept andevenslowertoinitiatethe such documenttoevenmention catch- where inArizonatroutwaters:Catch- only 211acresoflakesandamere23 other anglinggroups,theDepartment a decadefromTroutUnlimitedand and-release. agement schemeasyetuntriedany- the one(andmostconservative)man- the ArizonaGameandFishDepart- their acceptanceoftheflowsrequired Sport FisheriesStrategicPlan isthefirst version ofqualitywaterandthe ment hasn'tatleastexperimentedwith quotation marksandnowhere inthe A BlueRibbondesignationisArizona's has beenreluctanttoacknowledgethe document doesthetermno-kill appear. and-release. Thephraseisalways within practice asaneffectivemanagement taining troutandgrayling.Butofthese, tool. "Blue Ribbon"managementconcept. managed undertheDepartment's miles oftheLee'sFerryfishery)are miles ofstreams(includingthe15.8 AUTUMN 1991 Department's 1990Arizona Though underpressureformostof Arizona has1,490milesofcoldwater _

Coldwater

fish. 'Thosewerelittoralzonetrout. Gunn, "anditshoulddefinitelybecatch- for theFerrytoregainworld-classsta- clients whofishwithGunnandhisstaff worried abouttheoccasionalslender sports arehappytocomply.Heisnot and-release." Aboardmemberofthe flow of8,000cfsormore, must returntheirfishandhesayshis only becauseoftheawesomescenery are stillfatandhealthy." and regularclientelebutbecause, Gunn, butislessoptimistic andmore Lee's FerryChapterofTroutUnlim- the lowstudyflowsandalgaedry- trout fishery,"saysveteranguideTerry ited, Gunnpracticeswhathepreaches— They starvedbecauseoftheeffects critical ofthegovernment's handling river despiteitsupsanddowns,not of thestudies.'Theykeep studying," perhaps amayfly.Gunnstaysonthe tus: aregular,moderatelyfluctuating grown 20-poundtrout?" lations andanadditionalfoodsupply, " ing out.Thefishoutinthechannels Tinnen says,"andwekeepseeing dead What otherriverintheworldhas Gunn saysthreethingsarerequisite "Lee's Ferryshouldbeatotalwild Guide GlenTinnenagrees with no-kill regu-

PHOTO: MICHAEL FONG PHOTO D. E. ZINN from bothsides,withthefishery fish everymorning.Betweenthedam says, "andagoodpicturemakesthe seasons. Heenforces shouldn't. Itjustneedstobehigher says Tinnen,"andthemostfun."And for anoldriverrat.Hehaslivedonthe five orsixyearstocompletelyrecover." best trophy." body hasagoodcamerathesedays,"he compromise requiringconcessions ened. Evenifwegetthat,it'llstilltake one fishof16inchesorless."Every- of thestudies,butfearstheywillendin sources thansomeothersbecause,as spent sixyearsfirstasaswamperand anglers usingthelongrod."It's during theOctobertoAprilspawning about dead." Tinnenhopesforhigherand and thestudies,rivermaysoonbe and therampingratesmustbesoft- year, underpressure,willallowclients yon. Heisolderthanhisyearsinterms "Lee's Ferryneedstobestudiedasa most productivewaytofishthisriver," more moderatefluctuationsasaresult his finalpointshouldberemembered: of experience.Likemosttheguides, during thespawnand,restof down theriverthroughGrandCan- glers forthreeyears,andheisyoung Foster islessconcernedaboutfood to flyfishing,with75percentofhis then asboatmanraftingadventurers tailrace fishery.Thisriverwillnever loser. Hischiefconcernisthespawn- ing beds,butheisequallyadamant They justtendtostayonthebottom river mostofhis31years,however,and he says,'Theriveristeemingwithscuds. he have asteadyflow,andprobably Tinnen Dave Fosterhasbeenguidingan- calls no-kill 8,500to15,000cfs"aboutideal." Terry Gunn,"and total wildtrout should bea veteran guide and-release." It nitely becatch- "Lee's Ferry notes thattheprogressionis fishery," says shoulddefi- regulations,particularly no-kill TROUT onhisboats until the water level moves them." A behind his back during the lesson. "It's and those who support the measure catch-and-release advocate and practi- like shooting deer over a salt lick," urge that the Grand Canyon Protec- tioner, Foster relishes relating photo- Tinnen spits, "or shooting sitting ducks." tion Act be detached from the omni- documented tales of 22-inch rainbows All agree that shuffling is a meat bus bill and passed forthwith to avoid caught on size 22 midges. "Small scuds hunter's game that has no place in a the political kind of death it died last are the most dependable," he says, "but trophy trout fishery. year. you can have fun with San Juan Worms, The timely passage of this Act is criti- hoppers, even ants." He is partial to cal because the field research of the size 14 Renegades and prefers to fish The Washington Shuffle EIS is due to finish by the end of July Lee's Ferry in the summer "off" season 1991 and the research flows themselves because, he says, the fish are heavier, ut these and all other angling have been very damaging to the fishery bright silver and," he smiles, "...they considerations are destined to and the canyon's beaches. The widely jump more!" remain forever moot unless and fluctuating flows have pounded and Buntil the Department of the Interior washed the beaches and bottom so and its Reclamation minions are con- many times that the silt matrices that The San Juan Shuffle strained by law to re-prioritize the uses hold the grains and gravel together no of Glen Canyon Dam, and Congress is longer exist and erosion is dangerously nterestingly, the one issue that an- unlikely to enact such legislation until exacerbated. gers guides the most has nothing the public (read voters) demand it. So 1991 may well be the most impor- I to do with dams or flow schedules On January 14, 1991 Senator John tant year in the life of the Grand Can- or regulations. It is largely a question of McCain reintroduced the Grand Can- yon and the Lee's Ferry fishery. The angling ethics and is referred to in the yon Protection Act as SB 144. McCain's fates of these two national treasures are Southwest as the "San Juan Shuffle." bill is supported by Trout Unlimited inextricably tied and there can be no Shuffling one's feet to kick loose and a coalition of angling and environ- lasting remedy for the fishery's ills until aquatic insects and larvae and so chum mental groups. The act is intended to the Grand Canyon is permanently pro- downstream fish is an ancient trouting clarify once and for all the values for tected from further governmental and tactic, but has little to do with the fine which the dam will be managed by re- industrial vandalism. While SB 144 may art and science of angling. A case can quiring the Secretary of the Interior to not guarantee such protection itself, it be made that beyond the questions of protect downstream resources, imple- remains the singular instrument of sport and finesse, the damage to the ment interim release criteria until the hope. benthic layer of the best spawning and EIS is finished and understood, and Phoenix attorney Carm Moehle is fishing areas can be serious, especially establish a long term monitoring pro- Chairman of the Arizona State Council when coupled with the scouring effects gram of the continuing impacts of dam of Trout Unlimited (AZTU), a board of rapid flow changes. Each guide has operations. member and one of the founders of his own approach to dealing with the The release criteria recommended the state's first chapter, the Zane Grey. problem. by the study's scientists would cap maxi- He has been involved in the battles for Dave Foster educates his anglers on mum flow at 20,000 cfs, well below the quality water and enlightened dam the trip upriver, explaining the reasons 31,500 cfs now permitted, and restrict management for many years. 'This bill it just isn't done by knowledgeable minimum flow to above 5,000 cfs. More isn't perfect," says Moehle, "nothing fisherman, shaming them away from importantly, the rate of fluctuation political ever is. But it's our best bet temptation. Terry Gunn has been could not exceed 5,000 cfs per day. The and it's an improvement over what we known to lecture an embarrassed line only opposition to these recommenda- have now." He is concerned that the of shufflers from his boat, and Glenn tions comes, predictably, from the Rec- bill still leaves the Secretary of the Inte- Tinnen also educates his sports, but lamation/agribusiness/utilities cartel. rior in charge and he has a lawyer's admits he may have a ball bat priest All other agencies involved support the worry that the whole process will anti- immediate — if temporary implementa- climax into endless litigation after all. tion of such limits. Sharing Moehle's concerns and add- Shuffling is a Late this spring, California Repre- ing some of his own, TU Lee's Ferry meat hunter's sentative George Miller's House version Chapter President Mark Dykema points game that has of the Grand Canyon Protection Act out that the Arizona Game and Fish no place in a passed handily, but Senator McCain's Department version of catch-and-re- trophy trout parallel measure is bogged down in lease is "...anything under six dead fish." fishery. Senator Bill Bradley's Energy Commit- Dykema's chapter and AZTU are work- tee and the subcommittee on Water ing for a no-kill regulation since, as and Power. The bill flounders in the Dykema puts it, "You can't release a wake of an omnibus bill in which are dead fish." He cites Arizona Game and lumped many other doubtlessly impor- Fish Department figures that show that tant, but certainly unrelated, water and only 27 percent of the rainbow trout in reclamation matters. Senator McCain the river are naturally reproduced. "No

, TROUT AUTUMN 1991 1111111 Mkt

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29 30 ADDRESS order form to: CITY ST ZIP Trout Unlimited c/o Falcon Press PAYMENT: D CHECK D MONEY ORDER D VISA CI MASTERCARD P.O. Box 1718 24 pp., 11 x 8 1/2", 12 color photos. CARD # EXP DATE Helena, Montana 59624 Or call: 1-800-582-2665 ISBN 1-56044-013-9 SIGNATURE $7.95 Or fax: 1-406-442-2995 DAY PHONE ( one knows, or has tried to find out, and water people" to reforms such as Editor's Note: what kind of reproduction we might his bill, McCain credits TU, the Grand Just before going to press with this story, get with real catch-and-release regula- Canyon River Guides and many other the Department of the Interim; Bureau of tions." And like Terry Gunn, Dykema is environmental groups for building pub- Reclamation, released the following: enthusiastic about the prospect of an lic support for the measure. "Trout Reclamation Implements Interim additional food source, in the form of Unlimited played a very important Flow Test at Glen Canyon Dam some mayfly or other insect indigenous role," he says, adding that the work of Commisioner of Reclamation Den- to the Colorado's drainage. "We're will- TU and similar organizations "gives the nis B. Underwood today announced ing to work with the Bureau of Recla- Congress the impetus — the backbone — that, on August 1, 1991, the Bureau of mation," Dykema says, "we're even to act." Reclamation will begin testing proposed recommending some limited channel- It will take Congressional action, the interim flows at Glen Canyon Dam on ization. But we want realistic and eco- passage of law, to compel this and fu- the Colorado River. logically sound flow schedules and we're ture administrations to operate Glen "The test will be used to determine absolutely opposed to any further struc- Canyon dam ecologically. And while the suitability of the proposed interim tures like a re-regulation dam. And, of the apotheosis of the Bureau of Recla- flows," Underwood said. "The interim course, we're pushing hard for the mation may be ending at the nadir of flows, which Secretary of the Interior Grand Canyon Protection Act." its dam building era, the dam itself will Manuel Lujan is to announce by No- No one summarizes the situation bet- change the Colorado and the canyon vember 1, 1991, will remain in effect ter than Dave Cohen, President of Ari- for the next 300 years or so, until Lake until the Glen Canyon Dam Environ- zona Flycasters. Cohen is a TU member Powell silts completely and the dam mental Impact Statement (GCDEIS) is and ardent watchdog of the EIS pro- becomes Glen Canyon Falls. In the completed in late 1993 and final crite- cess. meantime, the degradation of the Lee's ria for operation of the facility are ap- "You cannot have an alternative op- Ferry fishery and the ecosystem of the proved and implemented." erational plan that only deals with one Grand Canyon continues. Although the Research flows will conclude on July resource," says Cohen, referring to Lee's real research of the EIS ends this sum- 31, 1991. Ferry, "however, if you operate the dam mer, the Western Area Power Adminis- 'The interim test period will allow for enhancement of the fishery, the tration has launched its own "EIS" which the Bureau of Reclamation time to only two negative impacts are to power considers hydroelectric power genera- more fully evaluate data from research production and price per kilowatt hour. tion as "one of the resources affected flows and to carry out National Envi- If you operate for power and price, by the dam." The purpose of the Na- ronmental Policy Act compliance for everything else is negatively affected!" tional Environmental Policy Act is, of the final implementation of interim According to Cohen, nothing much course, to protect the environment, not flows. This protects one of our nation's will change until "...Congress steps in hydropower, but the WAPA "study" greatest resources while meeting basic and tells them how to run the dam." serves to illustrate the power of the water and power needs," said Lujan. So the battle to save the Lee's Ferry forces arrayed against conservation and For the 90-day test period, maximum fishery, and the Colorado River and the methods to which they will stoop to flows from the dam will be restricted to the Grand Canyon rages on into the maintain the status quo. 20,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), with prematurely named "Green Decade" The question, then, is one of values a minimum flow of 8,000 cfs between of the '90s, eclipsed along with most and priorities. While good science and 7 AM and 7 PM, and a minimum night- other domestic issues into the penum- study can produce facts and data, it time flow of 5,000 cfs. Flows will not be bra of the oil wars in the Middle East. cannot establish values. The Grand Can- allowed to increase more than 2,500 cfs The battle is not yet lost, nor is it won. yon and the Lee's Ferry fishery, like each hour, or decrease more than 1,500 "Congress reacts to the will of the the river that spawns them both, are cfs each hour. In addition, maximum people," says Senator John McCain. Cit- national values, international treasures. daily fluctuations would be limited to ing the "great resistance from the power Nothing on the planet compares with 5,000-8,000 cfs, depending on the them. Even if cost were a real consider- monthly volume of water to be released ation, they must be preserved at all from the dam. Criteria have been es- The purpose of costs; electricity is available from many tablished that would allow these flows the National sources, but there is only one Grand to be exceeded for short periods dur- Environmental Canyon, one Colorado River and one ing emergency situations. The test of Policy Act is, of Lee's Ferry in the world. interim flows will not interfere with course, to The future of these treasures, like all water deliveries, pursuant to interstate protect the our national parks and resources, is in compacts and other applicable laws. environment, the hands of the owners — the Ameri- Work on the GCDEIS is progressing. not hydro- can people. To a great degree, the Lee's A draft document is to be distributed power... Ferry fishery and its survival, are de- for public comment in mid-1992. pendant upon the good efforts of an- Public comment is important! Join the glers and members of Trout Unlimited. fight — call Charles E Gauvin at Trout Un- We must act. 111404 limited at 703-281-1100.

38 THOt T AUTUMN 1991