ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PAGE, ARIZ.
SOURCE: MICHELLE BOORSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCIENTISTS HOPE THE FLOOD will leave warmer, safer water for endangered fish such as the humpback chub and razorback sucker.
Four monstrous arcs of foamy white Colorado River water shot out of a dam with a roar Tuesday as the federal government began a weeklong flood designed to turn back the clock on the Grand Canyon.
As the Colorado River below the dam crept higher up the salmon-colored sandstone canyon walls, several dozen scientists in hard hats looked on at their effort to bring the canyon closer to its natural state.
``The roar of the water is like what Mother Nature would've been doing naturally this time of year,'' said David Wegner, program manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the agency that manages the nation's dams.
Because sediment settles out of the water as it sits behind the Glen Canyon Dam, the once warm and muddy river downstream now runs cold and clear green. The flood should stir up sediment and redistribute it through the canyon, creating hundreds of new sandy shores where vegetation can take root to feed birds and fish.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt called it ``a new beginning'' as he pushed a button, cranked a lever and turned a wheel to open the first of four huge valves, releasing millions of gallons of the Colorado River from behind the dam.
It is ``a new era for ecosystems, a new era for dam management, not only for the Colorado but for every river system and every watershed in the United States,'' Babbitt said.
Water shot hundreds of feet out of the four 8-foot steel tubes, filling the normally quiet quarter-mile Glen Canyon with the thundering sound of a waterfall.
``Woo-hoo! Check that out!'' exclaimed a grinning Clay Bravo, assistant director for natural resources for the Hualapai Indians, one of several tribes living along the river. ``But this is nothing compared to the days before the dam.''
The scientists behind the $2.7 million experiment, the government's first scientifically documented artificial flood, said it was intended to mimic seasonal flows restricted by the 33-year-old dam.
The scientists have warned that the flood may wash away fragile fish eggs and some plant life, but they expect flora and fauna to return in greater abundance. Before the dam was built, floods three to four times the strength of the current release came through with each spring's snow melt.
After the dam was built, the cold water made the river a premier fishing spot for rainbow trout - a breed exotic to the area. Leafy tamarisk and cottonwood trees - also foreigners - now thrive in the canyon.
In addition, the cold water wiped out some native warm-water fish. Of the seven endangered species of fish that lived in the canyon before the dam was built in 1963, only three survive. Scientists hope the flood will leave warmer, safer water in backwater canyons for endangered fish such as the humpback chub and razorback sucker.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB