Optimism about Colorado River seems in short supply — but not at this Utah storytelling event

Scientists, writers, artists and others with an interest in the Colorado River got together recently in Moab, Utah, for an event called Rivers of Change. It focused on Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell — and what’s happening there and how that impacts the rest of the river.

Zanna Stutz is program manager at Glen Canyon Institute, a science-based advocacy organization, which co-hosted the event. The Show spoke with her more about it and started with some of the main takeaways coming out of this.

Brook Leigh

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Handout

Full conversation

ZANNA STUTZ: I was so impressed by the positivity and the amount of care that just came out of this event. There was such a sense of this being a place that people care about and the ways that that care can then fuel action and movement and a vision for the future and what's going forward here.

I think that there was a sense of, you know, all of these people that are coming together, whether you are a presenter with a art background or a science background, or you work for a nonprofit. And there were also people that contributed to this event in terms of science posters and art exhibits that were put up.

And just everyone, you know, is fueled by the personal relationship that they have with the Colorado River and with Glen Canyon. But everyone was coming together to then share that, to inspire the work of other people and to build off the work of other people and to engage in storytelling.

One of the themes that really stood out to me was how humans are really hardwired for stories. And what we were doing at the Rivers of Change symposium was gathering to tell stories, whether that was technical, scientific information or Indigenous storytelling, or sharing inspiration for the stories that are embedded into artwork.

MARK BRODIE: I'm so interested in the fact that positivity was one of the words you used to describe it, because it strikes me that that maybe is not something, you know, something that might be in somewhat short supply when you're talking about the Colorado River right now.

STUTZ: Yeah, no, I think that's one of the really inspiring things about working in this specific niche for Glen Canyon, right. We are telling a story about a river that is coming back to life. And I think that the story of Glen Canyon for so long has been grounded in loss and anger and frustration for having drowned this place of immense beauty, not to mention cultural and environmental value.

But, you know, when there's a perception that a place has been ruined for forever, the side effect is like, OK, but what's the point of caring or doing anything about it?

But as the reservoir has receded, and of course, that is embedded into this larger trend of just hydrologically what's happening on the Colorado River and all of the political implications of that, what we are seeing on the ground is life returning to this landscape and kind of a transformation from a lens of scarcity to one of renewal.

And I think that the hope that comes from what we're seeing in Glen Canyon is something that people are really craving right now. You know, as you said, a lot of the stories on the national scale of what is happening on the Colorado River right now is, you know, we're hearing about deadlines that are missed. We're hearing about a lack of transparency and public inclusion in the decision making process.

And that was a large part of why having this event be open and free and accessible to the public was so important to us.

BRODIE: Well, it's interesting you mentioned missed deadlines. I mean, your event happened just a couple of days after the federal government imposed deadlines for the Colorado River Basin states to come up with an agreement on how to divvy up the water. And of course, there's been a lot of arguing and potential litigation over this.

And yet it really sounds like what you're saying is, there is optimism, there is hope, there is belief that better times are ahead.

STUTZ: Yeah, I mean, from the ecological perspective, what we're seeing in Glen Canyon is that as the reservoir is receding, this new landscape is emerging. And after a couple of years, it's native vegetation that is coming back and you know, you get a monsoon season and that water will scour the side canyon and then you get, you know, you get free flowing streams that are coming back, and you get cottonwoods and willows and then the beavers come in and they are spreading the water table even further and allowing for the riparian habitat for birds. And there, you know, I think it's, it's just so, it's, it's really amazing and really inspiring how quickly this landscape is, is evolving.

And that was another theme that really stood out to me, was just the power of documentation and that the things that we are seeing right now, it's almost like you are never going to be able to see that particular moment, that particular perspective again.

But when we are able to document and then able to look back on this time, then you get a baseline of information for how to track what we are seeing over time.

BRODIE: So do you think that maybe we need to be thinking differently about what the Colorado River is and what the Glen Canyon Dam is and what Lake Powell is, and maybe what they can and should be going forward? Is that sort of a change that we need to be thinking about?

STUTZ: Absolutely. I mean, Glen Canyon has ecological value and cultural value. It's not just, you know, this empty slickrock container for reservoir water. And I think emphasizing that experience of a living river and the vibrancy that comes from it and the people who are all coming and convening and being inspired by this place, I think is really important.

BRODIE: When you talk about maybe the Colorado River or Glen Canyon Dam or Lake Powell maybe being a little bit different in the future, obviously, so many people rely on the river for water. And is there a sense that maybe that cannot or should not continue going forward?

STUTZ: The interesting thing about Lake Powell in particular is that it is a reservoir. It is an Upper Basin reservoir. But with the exception of the town of Page, Arizona, Upper Basin users don't draw water directly from Lake Powell. And Glen Canyon Dam, as we have seen, these low reservoir conditions has really become a bottleneck in this whole system of water storage and delivery on the Colorado.

You know, its lowest outlet as a way to pass water from the reservoir through the dam, still about 250 feet above the historic river bottom. And the lowest outlet tubes really were not made to operate in these low reservoir conditions. Every time those tubes have been used, cavitation damage has occurred to them. So, you know, I think that, you know, bringing up this kind of management and policy side of what is going on on the Colorado River is really important.

And also understanding, you know, that as these changes are occurring, we might need to take a larger step back and think about this larger system of water storage and delivery from this very pragmatic and logistical perspective, as well as this other emotional and more values based understanding of what are the trade-offs to this particular piece of infrastructure and how maybe has that changed over time as the hydrology has changed, as our energy landscape has changed, and as our understanding of its impact has become more robust.