Cataract

by Richard J. Ingebretsen
President

I am often asked what motivates me to want to drain Lake Powell reservoir and restore the Colorado River. To fully understand this, I wish that everyone who loves beauty and majesty could see my favorite spot on earth. It is just above the place where Cataract Canyon and the Colorado River artificially end. Artificial, because the living and powerful river here runs into the slack water of the dead reservoir called Lake Powell.

The river is thundering and powerful as it crashes its way down its ancient channel. Then it slows and divides around a small island. The right channel takes most of the current and forms the last of the rapids of Cataract Canyon. The smaller left channel flows over a series of waterfalls. This gentle and gradual flow provides the home for all sorts of wondrous life.

I like to stand at the base of these waterfalls late in the day with the warm water of the river running around my legs. I can look at all the little animals and plants that call this amazing place home. The canyon walls are very tall, stretching almost straight up to heaven. They are golden in color, rather than the usual red that is mostly seen along the Colorado River. The east wall is on fire with sunlight, with the west side taking on a soft gold from reflected light. Here, the river is alive, the creatures and the plants are plentiful, and the canyon walls are magnificent.

Though hard to believe, less then 100 feet down river total obliteration of this sacred ground begins. Man, without thinking, possibly without knowing, flooded this place. To stand here is to exist in stark contrast, because looking upstream you will see what the river has created, while looking down stream you see what man has abused and destroyed.
 

Aztec Creek (before inundation by Reservoir)
Photograph by Katie Lee

When I first began to look at photographs of the features that lay beneath the waters of reservoir Powell, I viewed a place that was named Music Temple. That name impressed me; this was a place so special that it was called a temple. John Wesley Powell was so overwhelmed that he and his men stayed there for two days. But the most special place I saw was called Cathedral in the Desert. Again named as if it were a place of worship. People have told me that this place was so hallowed that no one spoke, unless perhaps in hushed tones.

Much was lost when Glen Canyon Dam was built. It is one of the most ravaging objects that man has created. The living river of Glen Canyon, its glorious side canyons, the creatures that lived along its banks, the unique plants that grew there were lost. And Glen Canyon Dam has impacted Grand Canyon more than all other acts of man combined.

Glen Canyon was a gentle place. The water moved slowly there in contrast to the rough and turbulent waters of Cataract and the Grand Canyon which surround it. This was why Glen Canyon was so vital to the life of the Colorado River. The ecosystem depended on the warm, silty and slow waters there. Glen Canyon is essential to sustain life on the Colorado River. Nature never intended this place to be used for water skiing or water storage, it was meant to sustain life.

Our lives are a series of choices—we face one today. We can keep Lake Powell reservoir at a tremendous sacrifice to fragile web of life. We can utilize the short term benefits of the reservoir at the permanent expense of the Colorado River. Or we can choose to restore the canyons and the life that thrive on the flowing river by draining Lake Powell reservoir.

With restoration comes life. With restoration comes celebration and a sense of wonder. We will rejoice with each plant that grows, with each fish and bird that returns as we save wonders from certain peril. Please help us as we continue to work to restore the wondrous Colorado River.