Faux Flood Benefits Flow Downstream Managed Spring Runoff Rejuvenates 277 Miles Through Grand Canyon

Beaches along the Colorado River received up to 12 feet of new sand as a result of the artificial flood in the Grand Canyon this spring.

The water release, which mimicked the spring floods that once carved the canyon before Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1963, was nearly everything that 16 years of scientific study predicted it would be.

The flood improved camp spots for river runners, cleared out backwater spawning areas for endangered fish, buried archaeological sites to prevent them from eroding and washed away unwanted non-native vegetation.

It did not harm fisheries below the dam, as some had feared, and fly casters continued to take trout.

“Initial results show that the study has been a tremendous success,” said Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

Scientists discovered that the beaches built up much faster than anticipated. However, the sand began eroding away within weeks. If done more regularly, the artificial flood might take only a few days, instead of a week, to accomplish results that would be more permanent.

The operation also will likely cost less than the expected $2 million because more hydroelectric power was generated through the Glen Canyon Dam turbines than anticipated.

Releases from the dam during the experiment carried enough water to serve electricity to a million people for a year. The high waters rushed for a week through the 277-mile-long canyon wilderness, the longest unimpeded riparian wildlife habitat in the West, and eventually collected in Lake Mead, which rose about three feet.

“Our science is good enough that we now know how to restore things back to the way they used to be,”said Paul Bledsoe, an assistant to Babbitt.

Some of the immediate winners were river guides, who annually shepherd more than 22,000 people down the canyon on boating trips.

Beaches had slowly eroded away in the past three decades because of water releases that fluctuated wildly with electricity demand.

The experiment was the first case of the government using the dam as a benefit to the environment, as opposed to simply producing electrical power and holding water.

In all, nearly 150 scientists from throughout the world gathered to witness the flood. Additional information will be collected throughout the summer, and more detailed reports are expected later this year.