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Glen Canyon Dam

Mark Steffen has been appointed to be a new advisor to the Secretary of the Interior for the operation of Glen Canyon Dam and is representing trout fishermen (and women) at Lees Ferry in the Grand Canyon. Mark is resisting several environmental groups as well as the National Park Service in their efforts to destroy and kill the total trout population in the Grand Canyon. These environmental groups AND the Park service have the intention of replacing trout with native chubs, suckers and minnows.

For a complete run down of Mark's efforts and the Intention of the National Park Service and these environmental groups contact Mark at... steffenflyrod@lycos.com or call 928-522-0617.

12-15-04 Update on Northern Arizona Flycasters participation in the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program as a member of The Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Working Group. By Mark Steffen. 928-522-0617

ACOMPLISHMENTS ????????:

-Since Jan 28^th 2003 , I have attended 19 meetings in Phoenix , and one media event at Glen Canyon Dam, a total of 50 days of meetings of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Working Group. Total expenses (hotel, food and gas) have been re-inbursed by the Bureau of Reclamation.

Jeff English (A Lees Ferry fishing guide and my official alternate) attended 7 or 8 other meetings for me, and his expenses were also re-inbursed by the BOR.

-I have had to become aquainted with over 100 high level officials from approximately 30 govt. agencies, recreation organizations, environmental groups and private companies, including: The US Department of the Interior, The US Bureau of Reclamation, The Bureau of Indian Affairs, The National Park Service, The US Geological Survey, The Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, The US Fish and Wildlife Service, The US Department of Energy, The Western Area Power Administration, The Arizona Game and Fish Department, The Arizona Department of Water Resources, The State of Colorado Water Conservation Board, The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, The Utah Division of Water Resources, The Colorado River Board of California, The Colorado River Commission of Nevada, The Interstate Streams Engineer of Wyoming, The Colorado River Energy Distributors Association, The Navajo Nation, The Hualapai Tribe, The Hopi Tribe, The Pueblo Zuni, The Grand Canyon Trust, The Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, The Grand Canyon River Guides, and several environmental consulting companies, including Steven W. Carouthers and Associates (SWCA).

-My main responsibility as one of the members of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Working Group is to advise the Secretary of the Department of the Interior (Gail Norton) about fishermen’s concerns related to how Glen Canyon Dam is operated.

I also have to help advise the Secretary how to spend 10 million dollars each year on science studies in the Grand Canyon intended to help the DOI decide how to operate Glen Canyon Dam.

-I have made clear to the group that fishermen have recognized that significantly large daily flow fluctuations from GC Dam are better for fish (Trout and the supposedly endangered Humpback Chub) than steady flows or low flow fluctuations. Seasonally adjusted steady flows simulating a natural hydrograph are being advocated by environmental groups and some officials with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and some other govt. agencies. Daily large water fluctuations cause a stirring action that provides fresh water shrimp and worms for fish; steady flows provide little food because insects such as mayflies, stoneflies and caddis flies are not present. During steady flows small midges in back eddies are the main food source and fish do not grow fast or large and become stunted at about 12”.

-I have protested vehemently the govt. killing Trout anywhere other than a 17 mile section of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon surrounding the mouth of the Little Colorado. Killing Trout in that area is an extreme effort to help juvenile Humpback Chub survive after they are flushed from warm water in the Little Colorado River into the cold water of the main Colorado River . In the last two years 20,000 Trout have been killed, at a cost of over one million dollars ($50.00 per fish). The National Park Service intends to kill Trout in other areas simply because Trout are “NOT NATIVE” in the Grand Canyon . I have pointed out that Trout fishing in the Grand Canyon has been world class since the 1970’s and that Trout fishing has been excellent in Bright Angel Creek since Trout were stocked in the early 1900’s.

-I strongly protested the NPS plan to kill every Trout in Bright Angel Creek , which was to have begun in February 2004, using the private company SWCA. Along with many volunteers, SWCA intends to use a weir at the mouth of the creek to catch and kill all Trout entering and leaving the creek. They also plan to use backpack electroshocking equipment to kill all the Trout in the entire creek. During the required public informing process (Dec 2003), the NPS received much more resistance to this project than they expected and they are having some problems (?) hiring and paying SWCA, so the Bright Angel Creek Trout Killing Project is “on hold” for the time being. Before this project can proceed, another period of accepting and considering public comments will be required, other alternatives must be offered and much more paper work will be required.

Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program Update, 4-7-04 , by Mark Steffen

After more than a year of attending almost monthly meetings in Phoenix concerned with the Grand Canyon , Lees Ferry and the operation of Glen Canyon Dam, a few things have become clear.

There are three VERY serious problems in the Grand Canyon :

#1 - The BEACHES are being washed away. The sand is going to the bottom of the river or to Lake Mead .

#2 - The WRONG TREES are growing in the Grand Canyon .

#3 - The WRONG FISH are living in the Grand Canyon .

The ultimate solution to saving the beaches will be a several hundred million dollar pipeline that will bring sand from some where in Utah or New Mexico . A simple solution would be to dredge sand from the bottom of the river up onto the beaches. But dredging is much too unnatural to ever be allowed in a National Park.

56,000 Tamarisk trees have been killed in the Grand Canyon in the last few years. Cottonwood trees are native and preferred but cannot be planted since beavers eat them immediately. Killing beavers may be required. Beavers have been killed in Bright Angel creek to protect cottonwood trees shading park service buildings. Beavers are native, so killing beavers is not unambiguously OK.

Trout below Lees Ferry in the Grand Canyon have become extremely politically incorrect. 15,000 Trout were killed during 2003 and 2004. Humpback Chubs (HBC), Colorado Pikeminnows and Razorback Suckers are native and preferred but they need warm water. With the exception of warm water in the Little Colorado River (LCR), water in the Grand Canyon is too cold for warm water fish. However, because of the Endangered Species Act, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The National Park Service, The AZ.Game and Fish Department, The Grand Canyon Trust and The Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, all insist warm water fish be EVERYWHERE in the Grand Canyon.

The ultimate solution is to modify the dam to release warm water from the surface of Lake Powell instead of cold water from the bottom of Lake Powell . When the water is warm enough for HBC to survive and reproduce through out the Grand Canyon , the water also will be warm enough for Striped Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Catfish, Bullheads, etc., to move into the river from Lake Mead . These fish would also have to be killed. New fish parasites and fish diseases (including Whirling disease) would also likely occur and would have to be controlled somehow (?).

A compromise solution will warm the water below the dam just enough that HBC might survive, but they still could only reproduce in the warm water of the LCR. With this solution, mostly just Trout will have to be killed (as a management action forever)!

Due to the limited LCR HBC reproduction area, this solution probably will not be acceptable to the National Park Service and the concerned environmental organizations.

Despite providing world class trout fishing recreational opportunities to Grand Canyon National Park visitors for 80 years, the new National Park Service policy is “ONLY NATIVES ARE ALLOWED IN THE GRAND CANYON”. “Removing non-natives” from the Grand Canyon will be a huge growth industry for government wildlife management agencies and contracted private companies (SWCA and others).

Bright Angel Creek

From Mark Steffen at Steffenflyrod@lycos.com

DATE: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 21:34:

To all concerned: The National Park Service intends to kill trout in Bright Angel Creek in the Grand Canyon over the next four years. For information regarding this project and to comment on the project go to the following web pages:

http://www.nps.gov/grca/compliance/fish.htm

http://www.nps.gov/grca/compliance/pdf/scoping-fishltr.pdf

It is important to note I think, that the Park is apparently not doing a press release or any public meetings, and only notifying persons on the Park's private "interested parties" list and that the 30 day comment period surrounds the Christmas holidays when people may be too busy to comment. People from around the world have fished Bright Angel Creek for the last 75 years. Certainly few will have the opportunity to learn of this or comment on it. Also note that the Park does not mention that they already "reduced" the trout last year 2002, by 400 brown trout in a feasibility study with NO public notice. Nor does the Park mention that the Grand Canyon Research and Monitoring Center in Flagstaff is in the second year of a 4 year project to kill all trout in a 17 mile section of the Colorado River around the mouth of the Little Colorado river,(26 miles from bright angel creek), where the endangered Humpback Chub actually live. GCMRC has killed 11,500 trout in the first year

of their project. The GCMRC project is one that the Northern Arizona Flycaster's club reluctantly supports, to protect the endangered Humpback Chub. The fish that the Park wants to help in Bright Angel Creek is the speckled dace which is not endangered or threatened but is in fact "Common". The Park also does not mention that the Colorado River, due to Glen Canyon dam is a cold water river and the Park's desire to have warm water fish living in cold water and to kill any cold water fish that live in the now cold water is irrational at best. Also the Park does not mention that the Park itself has degraded the fish habitat of Bright Angel creek by removing the native beavers and beaver dams, again without ANY public notice. Also the Park does not mention that due to a entire year (6-90 to 7-91) of environmental studies with repeated short periods of very low water and very high water, the aquatic food base of the river was almost entirely destroyed. Almost the entire population o

f trout was starved to death over a period of a year in the entire Colorado River including Lees Ferry and the Grand Canyon. We know this because we witnessed it. How the native fish were effected was not documented, other than that the native fish numbers have declined since that time (surprise!). Government officials only reaction at the time was to stock catchable sized trout at Lees Ferry to make up for the fish killed there. The aquatic food base of the river still has not recovered to pre- 1990 levels, due to drought and continued ill designed scientific experiments intended to improve the size of beaches for campers in the Grand canyon. Scientists do admit that studies of the aquatic food base have never been adequate and new studies are being designed now. We need to support this and insist that it be done and that we are informed.

The Park has not offered any alternatives, although some which would seem appropriate should be supported such as:

Tagging the fish that use the creek for spawning and then watching for them to see if they migrate to the area where trout are being killed around the mouth of the Little Colorado River. This alternative would allow us to learn rather than just to destroy.

Some people have suggested killing only the Brown Trout which the Park consider to be the most competitive and predatory.

Some have suggested that the park complains regularly that they cannot afford to do needed maintenance and that they can't even afford to hire a geologist for the greatest geological wonder of the world, yet they will spend almost 1/2 million dollars over the next four years to kill trout.

DO not send comments to Jeff Cross. Comments should be sent to: Sara White, Environmental Compliance officer at sara_white@nps.gov
or superintendent
Grand Canyon National Park
attn: Sara White, Environmental Compliance Officer
P.O. Box 129
Grand Canyon Arizona 86023
(928) 638-7956

It is important to refer to D18(GRCA 8211), the Bright Angel Creek project. Ask to be added to the list of "interested parties" and to receive by mail a hard copy of the environmental assessment when completed. Comments must be received by Jan 12th.

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