Howdy GCI supporters!

This last month, I was privileged to accompany Martin Litton and others on a river trip through Echo Park on the Green River. As my first time on that stretch of the Green, it was truly spectacular and sobering to witness a canyon that was saved from drowning behind the proposed Echo Park and Split Mountain Dams in the 1950s. As the 50th anniversary of the Echo Park victory approaches, Glen Canyon Institute is revisiting the victory of river advocates half a century ago and gleaning inspiration from the early conservationists’ strategies and applying the successful tactics to our current efforts to restore Glen Canyon.

The reservoir is currently dropping at a rate of one foot every five days. At the current rate, Cathedral in the Desert is predicted to become high and dry (probably still damp actually) by December 2004.

For so many of us who have mourned the loss of the Glen, this will be an extremely rewarding event. It will in fact be a very important historical event that we are planning on advertising far and wide. I know that many of you are going to be interested in witnessing the restoration of this “Jewel of Glen Canyon”, so we are making arrangements to take folks into Cathedral starting in November.

Over the weekend of November 13th, GCI Field Trips will conduct its’ first boat-accessed service-oriented cleanup trip of Explorer Canyon (just upstream from Cathedral in the Desert and Clear Creek Canyon). The trip will be a cost sharing experience that will provide the satisfaction of cleaning up one of the restoring side canyons in the Escalante Drainage and the witnessing of the floor of Cathedral in the Desert and all her splendor. It will be a bit chilly then, but well worth the effort. For more information about the trip, please email: Jason@glencanyon.org.

For those of you who want to see the restoring side canyons of the Glen during the best time of the year (Autumn), go to: www.glencanyon.org/gcift for information on our upcoming fall itinerary for GCI Field Trips. There are still some spots available for backpacking trips into Coyote Gulch, Willow Gulch, and Rainbow Bridge.

The ongoing drought-induced press attention continues. We have attached a couple of relevant links to articles relating to the future of Glen Canyon.

For the River,

Christopher Peterson
Executive Director

****************NEWS LINKS*****************

Afloat in the Lap of Luxury
New York Times, By Jane Margolies, June 18, 2004
“This summer, marinas are racing to launch perhaps the largest, most lavish houseboats ever on the rental market.”
Link here

Glen Canyon: Drought’s Silver Lining
Editorial by GCI executive director Christopher Peterson
Deseret Morning News, July 19, 2004
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595078318,00.html

Matilija Dam EIS calls for full removal, restoration of fish habitat
Greenwire by Natalie M. Henry, July 19, 2004
“The Army Corps of Engineers yesterday released its draft plan to dismantle California's 198-foot Matilija Dam on the Ventura River in what should be the largest dam removal project in U.S. history.”
Link here

Drought diminishes river
Arizona Republic, by Shaun McKinnon, July 25, 2004
Ranchers, cities near headwaters are last in line for water
http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special06/articles/0722colorado-drought.html

Sobering thoughts on water
Denver Post, by Ed Quillen, July 30, 2004
... One reason it was built was to guarantee deliveries to the Lower Basin,
but if there's not enough water behind Glen Canyon Dam, then the deliveries
will have ...
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~150~2310147,00.html