Guest commentary Colorado River sends us a message
It feels like an apocalypse in the Southwest — wildfires, floods, drought, heat, smoke. This was not the norm when I moved to Colorado 35 years ago. Climate scientists may have predicted the arrival of these extreme events, but many admit their predictions have come true faster than they expected.
One outcome they pinpointed was the impact of heat and drought on water flows in the Colorado River. For the last 20 years this new climate, combined with booming human population growth, has parched landscapes, drained reservoirs and incited talk of water wars across the region. Lake Powell on the Colorado River, and Glen Canyon Dam which creates the reservoir, have become casualties of this strained environment.
Lake Powell is the second largest reservoir in the United States, but in the last year alone its water level has dropped 52 feet and the reservoir now sits at 31.4% full.
If you’re a pessimist, that’s 68% empty. Water managers are already imposing cuts in water deliveries in some states; all their choices are filled with political pitfalls.
A further complication is that the federal government operates a hydroelectric plant at Glen Canyon Dam that provides cheap electricity to parts of the Southwest. The day is coming when the hydroelectric turbines will stop for want of water to spin them.
To save the lake and generate electricity, the government needs water. But where will that water come from?
Upstream of Lake Powell, in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico are millions of acres of irrigated farms and ranches that suck massive amounts of water out of the Colorado River before it reaches Lake Powell. If those farms and ranches quit taking water and instead ran that water downstream, the lake and its electricity could be saved. To ensure that outcome, the federal government has hatched a plan it calls “demand management,” which proposes to buy or lease massive amounts of farm and ranch water to prop up Lake Powell.
On the one hand, the farmers and ranchers would get paid for the water, and likely paid very well. If I were a rancher who owned water, I’d sit comfortably until the offering price for my water made me even more comfortable.
On the other hand, lots of people and businesses believe that irrigated farming, ranching and outdoor recreation are not only central to the region’s economy, but also to its culture. Should that economy — and the soul of the Southwest — be sacrificed to save a manmade reservoir and its hydroelectricity?
I’m torn by this dilemma. If farms and ranches are dried up, more water flows down the river. More water in the river benefits fish and the environment. But there’s another solution: We can save farms and ranches and instead drain Lake Powell, freeing the Colorado River to flow free through 169 miles of a drowned and beautiful place called Glen Canyon.
There’s always the “save hydroelectricity” argument, but it’s a red herring. There are other ways to generate electricity, including wind and solar. In fact, if you’ve ever stood near Glen Canyon Dam and its hydropower plant, you can’t help noticing that it’s surrounded by millions of acres of dry, sun-drenched landscape that would make a great place for a solar electricity farm.
Electricity can be replaced; farms and ranches cannot.
As we grapple with these tradeoffs, it’s important to remember that even lower water flows are projected for the future, plus more severe heat and drought that will become the “new normal” for the Colorado River and the entire region. Lake Oroville, California’s second largest reservoir, now has inactive hydro turbines because there’s not enough water to turn them, its dusty lakebed a harbinger of what’s to come for Lake Powell.
Let’s also remember that Glen Canyon Dam was finished in 1963 and it and Lake Powell are only 58 years old. The region lived without them before, and it can live without them again. Now, nature is forcing our hand, telling us that it’s time to breach the dam and let the Colorado River run free.
Gary Wockner is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, a nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is a riverprotection activist based in Colorado and runs the nonprofit Save the
Colorado.
Let’s also remember that Glen Canyon Dam was finished in 1963 and it and Lake Powell are only 58 years old. The region lived without them before, and it can live without them again. Now, nature is forcing our hand, telling us that it’s time to breach the dam and let the Colorado River run free.
By Anna M. Phillips
Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has agreed to temporarily extend a program that gives wildland firefighters access to military satellite data, according to Rep. Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
The move follows weeks of pressure from members of Congress as the initiative’s expiration date neared.
The program, called FireGuard, is hugely popular among federal and state fire commanders throughout the West, who have come to rely on military and government satellite imagery to help them make on-theground decisions about strategy and evacuations.
It was scheduled to end on Sept. 30, just as California’s wildfire season typically becomes more active, and the Pentagon was reluctant to renew it.
Concerned about what the program’s lapse would mean for firefighters, 31 Democrats from California wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this month, demanding that the Defense Department commit to continuing Fireguard on a permanent basis.
Gov. Gavin Newsom publicly asked President Biden to ensure the program’s survival, calling it a “critical tool.” Biden pledged to take up the issue.
The Pentagon agreed to renew Fireguard’s authorization for one year, according to Schiff.
“Fireguard helps our communities to track and counter these horrifying blazes, and my colleagues in the California delegation will continue to push to make this program permanent while continuing to identify ways that new technologies can help us more effectively fight wildfires and keep people and homes safe,” he said in a statement.
Spokespeople for the Defense Department and the U.S. Forest Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Fireguard began in 2019 as a pilot program created to give fire commanders a detailed view of conditions on the ground. It works by pulling data from a network of government and militaryoperated satellites, drones and other sensors and cameras.
Images are altered to ensure that the military’s classified capabilities are not revealed as they are shared with the California National Guard, which has a team of intelligence analysts to sift through the information. They are on call 24/7 during wildfire season in California, alerting incident commanders on the fire lines to new developments. Reports are sent out every 15 minutes — delivering new information almost in real time.
The program operates out of California and Colorado, and shares information with firefighters across the nation.