Protect the Grand Canyon ecosystem in the face of inevitable Colorado River cutbacks

The Colorado River in Grand Canyon near Nankoweap | Photo Sinjin Eberle

The Colorado River provides drinking water for 40 million people throughout major cities, Tribal Nations, and rural communities. It irrigates over 5 million acres of farm and ranch land and supports a robust recreation economy dependent on adequate Colorado River flows. All told, the Basin feeds a nationally relevant $1.4 trillion economy. Today, all that the Colorado River supports is at risk due to rising temperatures and severe drought driven by climate change, outdated river management, and overallocation of limited water supplies resulting in severe declines of water levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

In the crosshairs of these realities is the Colorado River and its treasured Grand Canyon ecosystem. If flows through Glen Canyon Dam are overly constrained, the dramatically reduced river flows could make endangered fish more vulnerable, critical wildlife habitat less productive, and beaches and sandbars that are highly valued for vegetation stabilization and recreation more susceptible to being washed away entirely. Furthermore, these reduced flows would exacerbate disturbances to impact cultural resources and spiritual values derived from the Grand Canyon for thousands of years. Lastly, present day conditions open the door to high-risk circumstances in which non-native fish species like smallmouth bass and green sunfish can breach past Glen Canyon Dam and thereby threaten multiple at-risk species of fish and destabilize the overall balance of the aquatic ecosystem in the Grand Canyon.

Please join us in urging the Bureau of Reclamation to recognize that there are important links between human health, stable communities, and the environment and to implement measures to better balance water supply and demand that consider and protect the life promoting resources of the Grand Canyon ecosystem.

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Commissioner

Camille

Touton

USBR

Dear USBR Commissioner Touton, and project managers Johnson and Bainson,

I am writing today to thank you for your actions and resolve in addressing the massive issues facing the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. The Bureau of Reclamation has taken unprecedented steps to sustain the Colorado River, protect critical water levels in both Lake Powell and Lake Mead, and address the looming water supply shortage across the basin through short-term actions and a willingness to drive further conservation to confront the Southwest’s water supply crisis and to protect human health and safety.

But even aside from these decisive actions, there are and will continue to be sacrifices that must be made across all sectors including the environment. There have been cancellations of planned high flows through the Grand Canyon despite their role in preserving habitat for endangered and native species, as well as the entrainment of high-risk non-native small mouth bass and green sunfish from Lake Powell into Grand Canyon.  As a result, native species such as the humpback chub and other endangered species are at increasing risks regardless of the fact that the Federal government and states have spent hundreds of millions of dollars working to bring back from the brink of extinction.

In April, USBR opened the public comment period for the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to the 2007 Interim Guidelines. This SEIS evaluates different scenarios to better balance water supply and demand and assess how reduced flows would impact the ecosystem health in the Grand Canyon and other areas. The Grand Canyon cannot be the ecological sacrifice zone as further reductions in flows will ultimately face the Colorado River.

The environment cannot be viewed in isolation from the rest of the Basin. The health and safety of communities rely on well-functioning ecosystem products and services that provide essential resources and play a critical role in spiritual and mental health and well-being of individuals and communities throughout the Basin.  Nowhere is that truer than at the Grand Canyon.  The ramifications from further reductions in use of Colorado River will be significant, but it must be spread broadly, equitably, and fairly across all water use sectors and cannot be balanced on the back of sacrificing resources in one of the most recognizable National Parks in the country. Ignoring the quality and condition of the Grand Canyon ecosystem when determining how to protect public health and safety would not only imperil natural systems and the environment, it would also risk the integrity of economies, communities and the health and well-being of entire populations across the seven basin states, 30 Federally recognized tribal nations, and the Republic of Mexico.

Sincerely,

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