PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #85: Ecosystem Restoration in the Grand Canyon.
Presiding: S. Gloss and B. Gold
Thursday, August 8. 1:00 PM to 3:45 PM. Mohave Meeting Room, TCC.
An Overview of the Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program: An Experiment in collaborative, science-based ecosystem restoration.
Gold, Barry*,1, Peterson, Randall2, 1 Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, Flagstaff, AZ2 Bureau of Reclamation, Salt Lake City, UT
ABSTRACT- The Colorado River ecosystem from the forebay of Glen Canyon Dam to the upper reach of Lake Mead harbors significant physical, biological, cultural and recreational resources. Although it is the longest riparian segment in the United States free of development, the Colorado River ecosystem today differs significantly from its natural character. Glen Canyon Dam, completed in 1963, has had dramatic impacts on downstream resources within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park.As directed in the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992 and in response to the findings of the Operations of Glen Canyon Dam Final Environmental Impact Statement and the subsequent Record of Decision, an Adaptive Management Program (AMP) for Glen Canyon Dam and the Colorado River ecosystem has been established. The AMP is comprised of an Adaptive Management Work Group that operates under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a Technical Work Group, the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (AMP) and Independent Review Panels. The GCMRC and AMP were reviewed by the National Research Council (NRC) in 1999 . The NRC calls the Glen Canyon Dam AMP " . . . a science-policy experiment of local, regional, national, and international importance." They also call for ". . . probing comparisons of adaptive management experiments underway in different regions of North America . . ." The authors will present lessons learned from three years of implementation of adaptive management. These include: the importance of developing protocols for the implementation of adaptive management, the concepts of experimentation and uncertainty and potential conflicts with existing law and management culture, the need to establish a vision for the program, a process for developing management objectives and information needs, a discussion of organizational issues, the role of a single science center that will be used by all stakeholders, approaches to maintaining the objectivity and credibility of the science being performed, and how one brings this scientific information back to the management / decision-making process.
KEY WORDS: river restoration, adaptive management