It is called “Rewilding.” The idea aims to take down the Glen Canyon Dam and allow the Colorado River to flow through the Glen Canyon and other sandstone gorges as nature intended to Lake Mead.
In December 2021, Tick Segerblom, a Clark County Nevada County Commission, sponsored the “Dam The Status Quo” conference. Kyle Roerink of the Great Basin Water Network hosted the conference, arguing that future water strategies required an examination of past management mistakes.
Dan Beard, a former Commissioner of the Burau of Reclamation said that:, “There’s not enough water now, nor will there ever be enough water in the future to keep both Lake Mead and Lake Powell operational, Beard said. “You can’t have both; you have to have one or the other, so Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam should be scrapped and completely decommissioned before we can move forward.” [i]
Eric Balkan, the Glen Canyon Institute executive director, pointed to the importance of an environmental and economic analysis of phasing out Lake Powell and moving water downstream to Lake Mead.
Moving forward, on February 7, 2022, Segerlom, Beard, and others [ii] announced a contest to “re-engineer” Glen Canyon Dam and rewild the Colorado River. Called “Rewilding the Colorado River” – at the website RewildingColoradoRiver.org.
Read the full story at: The Mesquitewateralliance.com
Endnotes:
[i] In 2015 Beard authored “Deadbeat Dams: Why we need to abolish the Bureau of Reclamation and tear down Glen Canyon Dam.”
[ii] The Rewilding Contest is sponsored by:
- Tick Segerblom, Clark County Commissioner, Nevada
Daniel P. Beard, former Commissioner U.S. Bureau of Reclamation - John Fielder, Nature Photographer
- Save the Colorado
- Glen Canyon Institute
- Great Basin Water Network
- Living Rivers
- Doug Gillingham, Gillingham Water
(If you’d like to donate $$$ to the prize, contact Gary Wockner: Gary@SaveTheColorado.org)
