The documents of the Adaptive Management Program (AMP) for operations at Glen Canyon Dam (GCD) are provided here at On The Colorado as an alternative archive to the official web site maintained by the Bureau of Reclamation located here.

The program is charged by Congress to stop impairment of the biological and cultural resources of the Grand Canyon. The impairment is caused by hydropower operations at Glen Canyon Dam. These operations are to be modified by science and policy to improve national park values.

The main reason why we decided to provide this archive is the federal site does not contain a complete list of documents.

Though the AMP started formatively in 1995, the archive for AMWG (Adaptive Management Work Group) does not begin until 1997 and the TWG (Technical Work Group) archive begins in 1999.

Reclamation's site had a lot more broken links than it does today and has gradually improved the archive over time, so we appreciate these adjustments, but the missing years are...well...still missing.

They are not missing here at On The Colorado. However, you will notice that gaps remain, and when and if we acquire these documents, we will post them here.

Second, documents will be located on a single page in chronological order to eliminate unnecessary site surfing.

Third, sometimes the federal court system shuts down the web sites of the Department of Interior, so it is convenient to have this alternative site when that situation occurs.

An additional purpose is to demonstrate that some of the commitments this program is obligated to complete remain undone, or were completed after unreasonably long delays (or ironically fast-tracked). These include the annual report to Congress, integrating the Grand Canyon Protection Act (GCPA) into the Annual Operating Plan (AOP), completion of the temperature control device, reversing the persistent depletion of sediment, finalizing and implementing a programatic agreement with the tribes, implementing seasonally adjusted steady flows, finishing the Core Monitoring Plan, completing the socioeconomic analysis, and other matters.

You will also notice how unreasonable amounts of time are spent on meeting process rather than progress toward renewal of park resources, and that this obvious behavior is consistantly initiated by the protectors of hydropower revenues.

Click here to begin...

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

REVIEWS BY NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

• 1990 - Colorado River ecology and dam management
• 1991 - Colorado River Reservoir Operations
• 1994 - Review: Glen Canyon Dam long-term monitoring plan
• 1996 - Review: River Resource Management in the Grand Canyon
• 1999 - Review: Glen Canyon Dam adaptive management program

AMP Core Documents 

Adaptive Management Reviews: Susskind; Camacho; Fellers; Fellers Powerpoint; Lenard;Benenati;

Click here to read Environmental History of the Clorado River: A Changing Focus of Science. Bennati and Shannon.

2008 - Report to the Secretary's Designee on clarifications of roles in GCD Adaptive Management Program.

Click here to read a history of operations at GCD before Adaptive Management.

Click here to read letter by litigants about AMP to Secretary of Interior.

Click here for AMP primary documents not available on its web page.

2009 - List of extirpated species at Grand Canyon

2009 - Hydropower study by David Marcus. Table 1. Tables 2 and 3.

2010 - Desired Future Conditions

2010 - Answers from Grand Canyon Trust and National Parks and Conservation to Subcommittee Chairs Napolitano and Grijalva about AMP.

2011 - Testimony by Leslie James. CREDA.

January, 1994 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement on operations at GCD is published (Federal Notice).

March 21, 1994 - Final ruling on critical habitat for the endangered fish of the Colorado River.

November 9, 1994 - Non Use Economic Value Policy Analysis

December 21, 1994 - Biological Opinion (BO) of GCD for Modified Low Fluctuating Flow (MLFF), the preferred alternative of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on operations of GCD.

March 21, 1995 - GCD FEIS is filed with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

March 23, 1995 - Transition Working Group meets in Phoenix. Minutes.

March 24, 1995 - FEIS availability is published in Federal Register.

March 28, 1995 - Letter from environmental groups (NGOs) to Reclamation Commissioner Daniel Beard and Reclamation's response.

March 1995 - Government Accountability Office (GAO) begins audit of FEIS, as mandated by the GCPA. Signing the Record of Decision (ROD) must wait for completion of audit.

April 6, 1995 - Reclamation's response to Biological Opinion.

April 11, 1995 - Draft Programmatic Agreement for Cultural Resources presented.
August 11, 1995 - Non-use Value Report is peer-reviewed by National Academy of Sciences.

November 30, 1995 - Transition Working Group meets in Phoenix where goals and objectives are discussed. A draft of final objectives is presented July 2, 1996. For example, that endangered fish populations will be maintained or enhanced at levels that were observed ten years prior (1987) and on a ten year rolling average; to attain sustainable population of humpback chub in the mainstem of the Colorado River by 2005. The population of Humpback Chub has declined from approximately 9,322 adults in 1989 to 6,017 adults in 2006, and no sustainable population yet exists in the mainstem. Minutes.

January 11-12, 1996 - Razorback Sucker Workshop

February 13, 1996 - TWG meets in Phoenix. A draft appraisal of Selective Withdrawal (Temperature Control Device or TCD) is presented, and a final appraisal was completed in 1999. The purpose of the TCD is to warm the water from GCD so that endangered fish can spawn in the mainstem of the Colorado River, which is a primary objective of the AMP. See note below for October 21, 1996. Minutes.

May 21, 1996 - The first AMWG Charter is presented (revised in 2006).
The first guidelines for GCMRC are presented.

October, 1996 - GAO completes audit of 1995 EIS on GCD operations.

October 9, 1996 - Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt signs the Record of Decision for operations of GCD.

October 21, 1996 - Reclamation announces the first public scoping for potential impacts from installing a temperature control device (TCD) at GCD. Public scoping occurred again in 2004, but as of 2008 a final action plan has yet to be delivered by Reclamation. See note for February 13, 1996 above.

March 3, 1997 - Federal Register Notice that stipulates, among other things, that Congress will receive an annual report on the progress of fulfilling the requirements of the GCPA, and the Annual Operating Plan (AOP) process would include public participation in setting the operations at Glen Canyon Dam specific to fulfilling the mandates of the GCPA.

Draft 1998 Report to Congress is presented to AMP.
Final 2002 Report to Congress is formally transmitted.
2008 motion to finalize a Report to Congress.

October 13, 1998 - Federal Register Notice on 4.5 foot extensions for spillway gates at Glen Canyon Dam.

October, 2001 - Comments on the recovery goals for endangered fish. Coggins and Gloss; GCMRC.

US Geological Survey Publications & here (October 2010) 

2011 - Analysis of the 2000 low steady flow. Ralston.