The Breathtaking Glen Canyon Reveals Its Secrets

[Still Waters]

At dusk, the bats appear in the ghost forest that surrounds us—blackened tree trunks encrusted with a white coating. These cottonwood and willow groves are long dead but, amazingly, still upright after more than half a century underwater.

I am camped on the fickle shoreline of Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the United States, after Lake Mead. Once a vacation destination visited by two million people annually—as a kid I learned to water-ski there during family visits in the 1980s—Lake Powell is today just a hint of its former self, littered with stranded boat ramps and even entire abandoned marinas. Instead of a recreation idyll, it’s a symbol of water troubles in the West and the impact of climate change.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/glen-canyon-reveals-its-secrets-180980754/

Long Read

[+Desertrat56]

I think it is less due to climate change and more towards too many people in an environment that cannot sustain them.  The water usage is appalling in both the Lake Mead and Lake Powell areas, desert with too many people wanting lawns and trees that don't belong.   It is blamed on cliamate change, but it is really very poor husbandry of the land and too many people in the area.   Las Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, all too many people for the environment to be sustainable.

Edited September 22, 2022 by Desertrat56

[Tatetopa]

20 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

I think it is less due to climate change and more towards too many people in an environment that cannot sustain them.  The water usage is appalling in both the Lake Mead and Lake Powell areas, desert with too many people wanting lawns and trees that don't belong.   It is blamed on cliamate change, but it is really very poor husbandry of the land and too many people in the area.   Las Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, all too many people for the environment to be sustainable.

Although I agree with you on population, I see it as both.  Like the Hohokam and Anasazi before us, we are experiencing a decades long dry period.  They too had irrigation canals and managed agriculture, but the decades of drought  ended their tenure in the area. For no reason other than arrogance, we think we can ignore the environment and yet be less fragile.