The Glen Canyon Mistake

Richard M. Robinson ()
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Richard M. Robinson: State University of New York

Chapter Chapter 4 in Restoring America's Rivers, 2025, pp 91-123 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The Glen Canyon Dam is and was a central feature of the 1960s construction of the “Colorado River Storage Project.” The purpose of this project was to smooth flows of the Colorado River between high-flow years and drought years. But it used overly optimistic estimates of Colorado River flows considering our recent 23-year drought and the area’s long-term precipitation history. This dam was actually constructed as a compromise between environmental advocates (primarily the Sierra Club) and the demands for development in the Southwest Desert, especially in California. Glen Canyon was sacrificed for assurances that another dam – the planned Echo Canyon Dam – would not be built on the Colorado River. This tradeoff compromise is generally considered a “mistake” by environmentalists. A potentially beautiful Glen Canyon National Park was sacrificed in order to convert this canyon into a water recreation area. In the future, however, the Glen Canyon Dam will likely provide little storage, and is being considered for various forms of substantial modification so as to accommodate low-flow levels.

Keywords: Colorado River storage project; Glen Canyon; Glen Canyon Dam; Central Arizona project; Imperial Valley; Colorado River compact; Bureau of reclamation; Floyd Dominy; Senator Barry Goldwater; David Brower; John Muir; Sierra club; Marc Reisner; Cadillac Desert; Lake Powell; Lake Mead; Hoover Dam; All American Canal; Dead pools; Rule of prior appropriation; Wyoming v. Colorado (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-81758-8_4

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