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Glen Canyon NRA Officials Thinking Of Digging For Water

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Dropping levels of Lake Powell are making it harder to get to and from Wahweap Marina. Friends of Lake Powell Photo.

Climate change, both short term or in the long run, can exact changes on the landscape. Native wildlife can vanish, non-native species can arrive, things we have come to know over a lifetime of visits can be transformed, if not made to disappear altogether.

How we react to these changes can have significant impacts, as well as be telling as to our overall stewardship of the land.

At Glen Canyon National Recreation Area the ongoing drought has revealed fascinating canyon-country landscapes that long have been inundated by Lake Powell. Cathedral in the Desert, said to be one of Edward Abbey's favorite haunts, has reappeared, drawing Abbeyites and the curious.

While there have been long-running efforts to drain the lake entirely, they have been staved off and today Lake Powell is one of the Southwest's premier boating areas. But in recent years the regional drought has lowered Lake Powell. While that has opened up some fascinating canyon landscapes that had been under water, the drought also has created some logistical problems for boaters.

For years, you see, boaters have used the so-called "Castle Rock Cut" to shorten a 12-mile trip when heading to and from the Wahweap Marina to such areas as Rainbow Bridge, Padre Bay, and Warm Creek Bay. However, that shortcut is only possible when Lake Powell is at an elevation of 3,620 feet; currently the lake is right around 3,600 feet. Boaters have not been able to use the cut since the 2003 season, and in recent years they've been asking the Park Service to deepen the cut.

So how can this problem be solved? Well, NRA officials are thinking of digging the cut even deeper than it is, a solution last resorted to in 1992 when it was deepened by about 8 feet. Before that, the cut was dug deeper back in the 1970s. The current proposal -- which doesn't yet have a price tag attached -- is to dig another 15 feet deeper along a half-mile-long section of the cut. This slice also would be about 80 feet wide.

But perhaps a more important question that should be considered is, "Should the cut be deepened?" Is this how we should respond to climate change, or long-term drought, by just digging a little deeper? Have we become so omnipotent in our environmental stewardship that we haven't been confronted by a problem we couldn't engineer a solution to?

For now, the Park Service is getting ready to prepare an environmental assessment that will analyze the potential impacts of digging the cut deeper on the area’s natural and cultural resources and the quality of visitors’ experience.

To help the agency prepare that EA, the public is being invited to submit suggestions on how the situation with the Castle Rock Cut can best be addressed and what issues and alternatives the EA should consider. You can forward your thoughts to the Park Service online at this site or by mailing them at Castle Rock Cut EA, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, P.O. Box 1507, Page, AZ, 86040.

Scoping comments must be received by December 4. Once the draft EA is prepared later this winter there will be another public comment period.

Comments

LH:
I'm not able to follow this. NPS will pay for the project. Not Aramark. True, NPS will utilize revenue generated by concession operations to pay for it. So Aramark funds it indirectly. But since the NPS skim off the top of Aramark's operation is the same whether the cut goes forward or not, how does it affect Aramark's bottom line? The "SUM" cost of their overhead package remains X whether NPS spends the money on other infrastructure maintenance, repair or upgrade, or, whether or not they spend it on the Castle Rock project, right?

Pete K.


Yes Pete, that is correct. The "SUM" cost of their (Aramark's) overhead package remains the same, so not only Aramark, but even those who actually USE Lake Powell, will be the one's indirectly paying for the project.
As has already been said, "What's not to like?" Even Libertarians should approve of this one!


As I have witnessed over the years on other forums and blogs, whenever a posting goes contrary to the beliefs of folks over at www.wayneswords.com they head over, join the offending forum / blog and post their values, beliefs etc..
I am not saying this is a bad thing, just that it makes interesting reading on their own bulletin board which one can find at:
National Parks Traveler on the Castle Rock Cut *LINK*
or
LPYC soliciting lowering CRC comments to NPS *LINK*, which states, "I just received a mass e-mail from Lake Powell Yacht Club soliciting our comments to the NPS comment site below. I added my 2.5 cents there already."
or
Fresh comments on the NP Traveler site are up., which states, "Forest and Mondofish, among others, have been heard from. Might not hurt for a few more to pile on and smother the green-goofay-eggheads with ,,,,,, OOPS! Sorry. That's hardly PC of me. Pete K."


Whether or not funding has been allocated is a non-factor. In order for those funds to have been cyphoned "Off the Top" the have to have been appropriated from some revenue source. If the local fees in the Lake Powell area have remained the same, it is a fact of business that they have been increased elsewhere along the Aramark corporate umbrella. There is absolutely no such thing as a free lunch.

Faith in this manner of corporate pledge is indicative of the effect that marketing and corporate propaganda can have on consumers uneduated in the methods of doing business. I know from personal experience. Our holding company practiced the EXACT same techniques, quite effectively I add with tail between legs. But it works. And those who we were able to manage to control via this shell game were exactly the types of clientele that every American company relies upon.......gullible to a fault, loyal as the day is long. The American Sucker.


Lone Hiker,
There is no siphoning. It's a set percentage of revenue the consessionaire agrees to pay for the right to do business in the NRA. The NPS strictly regulates the fees they may charge for ANY goods or services provided with-in the NRA boundaries. I do agree that Aramark may charge more at other venues. That's probably why a beer costs a minimum $5 at any of the myriad ball parks or concert halls they manage. I believe the whole point of this discussion was monies being diverted from the NPS budget. It is absolutely not.

I've owned a business before. I've worked for Aramark and the NPS. I find you comments about "gullible to a fault" and "the American sucker" highly offensive.

Ted


Lone Hiker must have never been to Lake Powell, or at least not since the CRC became unusable. The hazards in "Maytag Straits" cannot be resolved with more laws. The problem is that it is a narrow channel with sheer rock walls along both sides that do not absorb wakes, but reflect them full strength back into the channel. Couple that with the hundreds of boats that use that channel and the result is like boating in a huge washing machine. The Aramark tour boats leave rollers that are sometimes over 8 feet from crest to trough. Despite his claim of a "few boaters, we counted over 200 oncoming boats in the 12 miles on a weekday in May. Lone Hiker needs to rent a "Blue top", and try it on July 4th weekend. I think that will make a convert of him/her.


Sounds like there are to many boats.


Again, my apologies for posting Simple Proposals that seem to be out of context (but maybe they really aren't?):

Nowadays NPS staff are charged with constantly writing plans and reports. Years ago we had to write plans and reports, but the number and complexity of these tasks seems to have mushroomed over past decades. Some staff seem to be doing nothing but writing plans and reports.

Certain folks are so busy writing plans and reports (along with attending meetings, implementing initiatives, and reacting to other bureaucratic processes and procedures), that time doesn't allow for anyone to actually read the countless plans and reports that are produced. These documents typically sit on shelves, gathering dust and slowly yellowing with age. But, unlike aging works of art, these black holes of information don't gain value over time.

Try a little test. Next time you're at a meeting, ask if anyone has recently read a plan or report which might serve as a guideline relevant to the discussion. I've been making a habit of this recently. It's amazing how many people who are eager to write plans and reports never refer to them later!

Yes, I know. Some will argue that these documents are essential, since they help highers-up to formulate budgets. But why do these processes seem to grow more time consuming, but less valuable, with each passing decade? Fifty years ago Chiefs of Interpretation, for example, actually had time to write reports on the wildlife they were personally observing in their parks. So...how did THEY get any money?

Whatever you do, don't waste valuable time and tax dollars on plans and reports. Give them the minimal attention they command, and move on to those things that directly connect caring visitors to our fantastic national parks.

Simple Proposal #13: Plan for fewer reports...and Report on fewer plans


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