Grand Canyon (Glen Canyon actually but the effect will be downriver) Management Alternatives explained

At long last, this will be your very first peek at the 6 ALTERNATIVES that have been developed for the Glen Canyon Dam Long Term Experimental and Management Plan (LTEMP) EIS (so keep scrolling down to the official LTEMP EIS email below). The LTEMP will affect the way the dam is managed and the health of downstream resources for the next 20 years. A REALLY REALLY BIG DEAL!!!

A quick run down of the various alternatives from Sam Jansen (our Adaptive Management Work Group rep) is as follows:

• Alt #1: No Action Alternative

• Business as usual. Same Modified Low Fluctuating Flows (MLFF) as the last 18 years
• Would incorporate the High Flow Protocol & Non-Native Fish EA’s

• Alt #2: Balanced Resource Alternative

• Created by Colorado River Energy Distributors (CREDA)
  
• All about generating hydropower–a real step backwards
• Includes testing “Hydropower Improvement Flows”–check out the hydrograph in the .pdf (see links from LTEMP email below)
• Restricts High Flow Experiments (HFE) to every other year

• Alt #3: Condition-Dependent Adaptive Strategy (CDAS)

• Seems to be the favorite of the Park and Bureau of Reclamation
• Focused on chub, sediment, trout and hydropower
• Adds greater flexibility in High Flow Experiments

• Alt #4: Resource Targeted Condition-Dependent (RTCD)

• Created by Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), the 7 Basin States & hired scientists
  

  Glen Canyon Dam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• Focused on chub and hydropower, with nods to sediment and trout
• Seems to be about doing the minimum for Grand Canyon that the law will allow
• Reduces number of High Flow Experiments

• Alt #5: Seasonally Adjusted Steady Flow (SASF)

• Interesting hydrograph–steady 8,000 Oct through Jan, steady 7,000 July through Sep, with peak flows on May 1st (45K) and at the end of June (25K)
• Spring and Fall High Flow Experiments

• Alt #6: Year-Round Steady Flows

• Not perfectly steady month to month, but centered around about 11,000 cfs
• High Flow Protocol with some modifications

PLEASE READ THE IMPORTANT OFFICIAL LTEMP ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW and closely examine the .pdfs they provide for

important details and hydrographs for each of these alternatives. GCRG and our LTEMP Action Group will be looking at all of these very closely and assessing their merits. We’ll be in touch with you with what we think once we’ve had a chance to wrap our brains around it, in preparation for the release of the Draft LTEMP EIS this fall. This is YOUR RIVER, and Grand Canyon National Park belongs to ALL OF US. Our goal is to get everyone fired up to provide comments!

Six alternatives, including the No-Action Alternative, have been developed for consideration in the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan

(LTEMP) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The alternatives represent different ways Glen Canyon Dam could be operated under the LTEMP over the next 20 years,

and will serve as the basis of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) assessment to be presented in the LTEMP EIS. At the February 20, 2014, Adaptive

Management Working Group Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, the LTEMP EIS team presented an overview of the alternatives. This presentation can be downloaded at

ltempeiswebmaster

Please forward this message to any party you feel may

be interested in the LTEMP EIS.

Thanks to the Grand Canyon River Guides Association for getting this information out.