Downstream Adaptive Management of Glen Canyon Dam and the Colorado River Ecosystem (1999) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-17
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Glen Canyon Dam and its operations have altered hydrologic and temperature regimes in ways that have dramatically transformed the Colorado River ecosystem. Recognizing the "values for which Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area were established," the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992 (sec.
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Results of monitoring and research are then used to adjust future management strategies. In addition to the mandates of the Grand Canyon Protection Act, decisions regarding Glen Canyon Dam operations are constrained by an array of legal requirements, including the "Law of the River," the Endangered Species Act, and federal trust responsibilities to Indian tribes.
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a. Does the Long-Term Plan respond to the new adaptive management process called for by the Grand Canyon Protection Act and Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement?
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The Strategic Plan should identify strategic priorities for the next five years, building explicitly upon experience gained during the past two years. Geographic Scope of Center Programs The 1998 Strategic Plan described the Program's geographic scope as extending upstream into the forebay of Lake Powell, downstream to the western boundary of Grand Canyon National Park, and laterally to the elevation of maximum regulated discharge and the inundated area for annual predam peak flows of 90,000 cubic feet per second (cfs)
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The Center nonetheless successfully negotiated a f~ve-year monitoring plan for Lake Powell water quality parameters relevant to clam operations; awarded a research contract on archaeological site erosion with control sites upstream in Cataract Canyon; and collaborated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on a study of E} Nino's implications for dam operations and downstream resources. These activities point toward sound ways to manage geographic scope that should be incorporated in the Strategic Plan.
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it is not clear whether this definition is widely shared or whether stakeholders and scientists have similar interpretations, particularly as it applies to Glen Canyon Dam operations and Grand Canyon ecosystem management. As the use of ecosystem science develops in the Adaptive Management Program and as a vision for downstream resources becomes clearer, adaptive management may evolve into a program of ecosystem management.
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A table of expected benefits from the preferred alternative in the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement represents a first step, but it is acknowledged to represent a compromise that is not internally consistent, optimal, or readily visualized (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, ~ 995; see Appendix D of this report)
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It sidesteps the final, equally essential step of articulating scientific criteria for guiding choices among competing objectives that "protect, mitigate adverse impacts to, and improve the values" identified in the Grand Canyon Protection Act. While those .
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A discussion paper dated March 17, 1998, recommended that a Science Advisory Board be constituted as an official subcommittee of the Adaptive Management Work Group and that it be instructed to "not review, interpret, or otherwise evaluate public policy decisions associated with the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program and activities of the AMWG, the TWO, or individual member agencies." These constraints would limit credible, independent review. To ensure credible and independent programmatic review, the tasks and constraints of the Science Advisory Board should be redefined.
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The model, along with a 1999 Colorado River Ecosystem Science Symposium, is helping integrate the scientific thinking of Center staff and other scientists working in the Grand Canyon. Although central to the Center's mission, a welldefined monitoring program has not yet been articulated.
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· Address biological aspects of temperature-control experiments involving the proposed selective withdrawal structure at Glen Canyon Dam. Sociocultural Resources Program The 1998 Strategic Plan combined cultural and socioeconomic resources under a single heading.
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Further coordination of existing Cultural Resources subprograms is also needed. · The Cultural Resources Program should look forward to including a wider range of social groups and to recognizing that archaeological evidence and ethnographic perspectives offer valuable insights on adaptive environmental management in the Grand Canyon.
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· The Strategic Plan should seek to understand not simply the range of preferences and activities of users of Grand Canyon resources, but also the degree to which ecosystem features and activities are valued. · Sources of funding for original research devoted to measuring Grand Canyon ecosystem values should be sought, using a fully representative scientific sample of all stakeholders.
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ORGANIZATIONAL AND BUDGET ISSUES When assessing how the Center is functioning in the Adaptive Management Program, the committee encountered four main issues that are not fully addressed in the Strategic Plan: the roles of the Center; its institutional home; its structure and staffing; and its budget and funding. Roles of the Center The Center has been expected to plan research and monitoring activities and to facilitate many Technical Work Group and Adaptive Management Work Group activities.
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All of these possibilities contain strengths and weaknesses. This review and previous National Research Council reports on institutional and administrative issues in the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies indicate that the following criteria, which resemble but extend beyond the screening criteria mentioned above, may be important in decisions regarding the Center's institutional home:
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This person would help articulate the links between scientific research and adaptive management experiments and their relations to policy recommendations for Grand Canyon ecosystem management. There also appear to be significant staffing needs in the Physical Resources, Cultural Resources, and Socioeconomic Resources programs.
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Department of the Interior: Consider using hydropower revenues to support core research, monitoring, and Adaptive Management Program activities mandated by the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement, the Record of Decision, and the Grand Canyon Protection Act (at full funding levels envisioned for the next five years and beyond)
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