The Returning Rapids Project with Mike Dehoff

The Returning Rapids Project is a group of river-loving folks based in Moab, Utah. Their project seeks to document the recovery of the Colorado River in Cataract Canyon, Upper Glen Canyon and the San Juan‒areas once inundated by a full, but now receding, Lake Powell reservoir. Check out their remarkble findings.

With Lake Powell receding, the Colorado River above Glen Canyon Dam is changing rapidly in dramatic and unexpected ways. Buried rapids are rising and channels are reappearing. The Colorado River is righting itself from this inundation.  But there are also emerging features that pose a potential threat to riparian ecosystems, archaeological sites, and reservoir management. The first group to observe and document these changes is the Returning Rapids Project, a group of river guides turned citizen scientists, who work in partnership with scientific researchers.

 Mike DeHoff leads The Returning Rapids Project. According to this month’s feature article in Rolling Stone Magazine, “Without DeHoff, this environmental miracle may have gone entirely unnoticed on the national stage.”    https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/lake-powell-cataract-canyon-rapids-returning-1234959159/

 DeHoff will present his team’s latest findings on how homeostasis is at play in this environment, and the challenges which lie ahead in managing what he terms as our diminishing water savings account, Lake Powell.

This lecture is produced together with Conserve Southwest Utah, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, the Glen Canyon Institute and the Returning Rapids Project.