River Resource Management in the Grand Canyon (1996) / Chapter Skim
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11 LESSONS OF THE GLEN CANYON ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
11 LESSONS OF THE GLEN CANYON ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Pages 209-221
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From page 209... ...
has acknowledged and accepted the necessity for this change, although the institutional characteristics of the bureau cannot be expected to adapt overnight to a new mission. Qualitative aspects of water management include improvements in efficiency of water use as well as adaptation of water management to a broad range of environmental objectives such as those that are apparent from the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies (GCES)
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From page 210... ...
ELEMENTS OF A USEFUL ECOSYSTEM ANALYSIS GCES has illustrated that a successful and cost-effective ecosystem analysis of use to management must meet a variety of requirements that extend well beyond the research plan, data collection, and data analysis. Management-oriented studies of environmental systems can be more difficult to organize than academic studies because they must operate within the institutional framework of mission agencies, be consistent with a variety of laws not directed to ecosystem management, reflect the interest of constituencies that affect government, be subject to strong constraints of time and budget, and produce results that are immediately useful to management.
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From page 211... ...
For GCES, the nonuse value of the Colorado River corridor below Lake Powell was not originally listed as a resource because administrative policy precluded its recognition until GCES was almost complete. In addition, cultural resources and effects on tribes were not considered until later in the GCES.
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From page 212... ...
GCES shows the peril of studies that are organized primarily around a list of resources and management options, even though such lists are integral to the formulation of the study plan. The context for resources and management options in an ecosystem analysis is the ecosystem diagram.
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From page 213... ...
for having ignored extensive past data collection on the Colorado River and Luke Powell. The NRC assisted GCES by sponsoring a workshop in 1990 to which authorities on the resources of the Grand Canyon were invited and asked to summarize the existing state of knowledge about the resources of the GCES study area.
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From page 214... ...
The project manager can function most effectively, and with lowest cost, without obligations to provide supportto any entity or individual or to continue supporting activities that prove to be inadequate or unnecessary. Such flexibility was absent in GCES, and the result was unreasonable distortion of project scope, failure of federal agencies to meet contractual obligations while continuing to receive support, and excessive focus on budget continuity rather than project objectives.
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From page 215... ...
Ecosystem analysis is inherently a multlyear activity, although the primary phases of most ecosystem studies will not require as much time as those of GCES. A sponsoring agency should require a study plan leading to specific useful outcomes in a specified period of time, with specified costs.
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From page 216... ...
While the BOR contemplates future preparation of a synthesis with post-GCES funds, the failure of GCES to produce a more synthetic outcome directly connected to management makes for a poor demonstration of the usefulness of ecosystem analysis to management. A study plan must incorporate a firm commitment to final objectives, including explanation or modeling of connections between ecosystem components under the influence of management.
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From page 217... ...
ACHIEVEMENTS OF GCES Although the deficiencies of GCES were many, GCES can also claim numerous achievements, some of which relate to major expansion in our understanding of the Colorado River ecosystem between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Mead, while others are of a more general nature (Table 11.1~. Important Discoveries of GCES GCES made a number of basic discoveries that can be used as a basis for optimizing the operation of Glen Canyon Dam in ways that benefit biotic communities, recreation, and other resources.
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From page 218... ...
While the amount of sand entering the river is sufficient to maintain beaches and backwaters, it will not do so in the absence of occasional flood flows that are sufficient to lift sand from the bed of the river and over the tops of beaches and to scour backwaters so that they do not become filled with sediment. Beach-building flows are an ideal management tool because they present low environmental risk and cause the sacrifice of only small amounts of power revenues in that they need to last only a few days and need not occur every year.
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From page 219... ...
While modest in number, these results are of great practical value and have led to the acceptance of new management schemes that will produce substantial environmental benefits with only modest loss of power revenues. Recognition of the Need for Comprehensive Environmental Studies Between 1983 and 1995, the BOR expanded the scope of GCES studies to realistic limits geographically and conceptually, accepted the ecosystem concept as the basis of the study and for interpretation of results, and acknowledged, during the EIS phase, the necessity of weighing power production and power revenues against environmental costs and benefits.
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From page 220... ...
The environmental system below the Glen Canyon Dam is not static and thus will show numerous changes in the future that are responses to dam operations or to other events outside the realm of operations. These changes will be detected through long-term monitoring, and adaptive management will allow appropriate responses.
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From page 221... ...
Despite the appearance in 1983 that the operations of Glen Canyon Dam would never be altered, the BOR has redirected the management of the dam in ways that take into account the many valuable amenities and resources of the Colorado River corridor below the clam. The GCES and the changes that have come about through preparation of the operations EIS have modernized and reformed resource management in the Grand Canyon region.
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