Resurrection: Glen Canyon and a New Vision for the American West

Interview with Author Annette McGivney

Q: How is this book illuminating current water issues in the West?

A: Beyond its documentation of a recovering Glen Canyon, Resurrection explores the politics and environmental issues behind the reservoir-based water infrastructure of the West. The book shows the beauty of Glen Canyon but also explores the connection of Lake Powell, Lake Mead, and other reservoirs to environmental and economic problems in the West caused by industrial agriculture, suburban sprawl, air pollution, and a host of other issues that have been facilitated by these massive Colorado River basin reservoirs. In addition, Resurrection examines how climate change is impacting these reservoirs and shows how the system will soon be unable to meet the water needs of the West.

Q: What does this mean to everyday citizens?

A: These Colorado River basin reservoirs provide water to 30 million people in the West and, to a large degree, it is the economies of metro areas in the West that have been driving the U.S. economy. So, the issues raised in Resurrection --AND the solutions the book proposes--can potentially have an impact on every American. Plus, it is our tax dollars that is funding this outdated, environmentally irresponsible water infrastructure which has been primarily benefiting large corporations in the form of agribusiness and real estate development rather than small farms and individuals. We simply can not afford this wasteful system in the era of climate change.

Q: What is the long-term outlook of "resurrecting" Glen Canyon?

A: Nature, through climate change, is draining Lake Powell. It will never fill again. However, the best thing for the reemerging environment of Glen Canyon and for the 30 million people relying on Colorado River water is to embrace the resurrection of Glen Canyon by adopting policies that protect this area with a stable, lower lake level and replace the reservoir-based infrastructure of the West with a more sustainable system that promotes conservation. In this respect, the recovering Glen Canyon is the light at the end of tunnel-- it shows us what is possible when we let nature take over.

Q: How can people get involved?

A: First of all people need to learn more about water policies and issues--especially people living in arid cities in the West. And then they need to press their elected officials to support environmentally sustainable water polices rather than supporting the pork-barrel status quo. They should also get involved in the campaigns of environmental groups like Glen Canyon Institute and others that are working on a variety of causes related to water. Information on all of this is in the book. And they should go hike in Glen Canyon and witness the miracle for themselves.

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Resurrection

Resurrection: Glen Canyon and a New Vision for the American West

Glen Canyon is reemerging from Lake Powell—and Americans have an opportunity to reclaim an area that was once lost.

book cover

Annette McGivney; foreword by Bill McKibben; photography by James Kay

From the 1930s through the ‘60s, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation embarked upon a campaign to harness the rivers of the booming American West. As it launched into a frenzy of dam building, altering the course of the Colorado River and its many tributaries, the government agency triggered intense opposition. One of the most volatile controversies was the damming of Glen Canyon, a 170-miles-long ecological wonder stretching across southern Utah and northern Arizona. In an attempt to prevent its loss, David Brower, then executive director of the Sierra Club, and photographer Eliot Porter produced and disseminated The Place No One Knew—a large-format photographic book dedicated to raising awareness of the beauty and historical richness of Glen Canyon. Despite Brower’s campaign, the Bureau of Reclamation completed its damming in 1963, leading to the eventual creation of Lake Powell. As the new reservoir filled, its waters consumed countless treasures, including ancient petroglyphs, stone forts, cottonwoods, and willows. The sinuous, redrock curves of Glen Canyon sank beneath the waters of a man-made lake.

Today, after a series of drought years, Lake Powell has diminished in capacity and Glen Canyon has reemerged. We have the unprecedented opportunity to honor David Brower’s vision and prevent a second loss of Glen Canyon.

Resurrection is a tribute to The Place No One Knew. Photographs by James Kay evoke the burnished red beauty of the canyon, and before-and-after shots illustrate Lake Powell’s massive drop in water level. Annette McGivney explores the damming controversy, the history of water politics in the American southwest, and the reappearance of the canyon. Like Brower and Porter’s 1963 photographic paean to Glen Canyon, this book aims to instill in the reader an abiding love of the canyon and a desire to secure its protection.

The Department of the Interior’s water policy needs to evolve to meet new needs—and Americans must live more sustainably, especially in the arid West.

In producing this book, Braided River has partnered with the Glen Canyon Institute (GCI), a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to "restore a healthy Colorado River through Glen Canyon." In Spring 2007, GCI proposed the re-designation of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area as a national park—to honor the area as a national treasure and preserve it for future generations.

For the latest on Glen Canyon conservation, click here.

For more information on Annette McGivney, click here. For more information on James Kay, click here.

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Interview with Author Annette McGivney

Glen Canyon is reemerging from Lake Powell—and Americans have an opportunity to reclaim an area that was once lost.

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