Lake Powell could revert to being a rafting river . . .
Or if the climate turns around, 120-foot house boats will still be welcome. Either way, Glen Canyon NRA will still be there and the National Park Service will be managing it for its best use.
Despite what you may have heard, Lake Powell is not doomed. The National Park Service superintendent who manages the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a.k.a. Lake Powell, says, if nothing else, the Colorado River can be turned back into a world-class rafting river, if the reservoir continues to go dry and should the dam be breached.
That’s part of a wide-ranging interview conducted with park Superintendent William Shott, by Bob Hembree of the Lake Powell Chronicle of Page, Arizona.
This substack account will be looking for this type of original reporting from local media to bring it to wider attention. (BWO Photo: It’s a long drop to hit Lake Powell, should such a thing be allowed behind Glen Canyon Dam, April 2021)
And, not to scare the house boat crowd, the park superintendent says if the climate turns around and Lake Powell fills again, say in 20 years, the 120-foot house boats will be back on the lake astride the Arizona-Utah border.
You’ll need to read the full report here to see which scenario Superintendent Shott deems to be the most likely. Either way, the National Park Service will be there to manage the recreation. The park boundaries won’t change, unless Congress acts.