Illustration by Cody Angell

Dam.

Damn dam.

This past Monday marked the 100th anniversary of the Bureau of Reclamation. On June 17, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Reclamation Act ÷ a piece of legislation so powerful it would ultimately green the West.

In time, it would also pin the Colorado River against canyon walls with stale white concrete.

The bureau baptized itself in the muddy-red Colorado River in 1928 when Congress authorized the Boulder Canyon Project, the most ambitious construction project of the time. Hoover Dam not only stopped the river, but Lake Mead backed up so far it flooded 20 percent of the Grand Canyon, less than 200 miles away.

Speaking of Hoover Dam. That was the location of the bureauâs self-absorbed birthday party on Monday night. Donât worry, you werenât invited. And, they did not spend too much privately raised money to fund it ÷ only a measly $400,000. You know, it costs a lot of money to hire out the Thunderbird air show, shoot off fireworks, and display a laser show on the face of the dam itself. Not to mention feed 2,400 privately invited guests that included former employees, elected officials, and a not-so-small handful of water and power interests.

You know it must be a party when Gale Norton shows up.

The bureau got over their heads in Colorado with the controversial construction of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. This dam, 370 miles upstream from Hoover, completely destroyed the fragile ecosystem of the Grand Canyon. The condemned river now runs clear and cold. By cold, I mean 43 to 55 degrees.

Itâs jump-in-then-get-the-hell-out cold.

The dam flooded what was an astonishingly beautiful canyon, unfortunately only known to a handful of people who were unsuccessful in halting its construction.

What has happened in the West in the last 100 years is not only short of amazing, but very near to heart rendering. The bureau altered every expectation of human survival here. The once ravishing, silt-filled, flood-causing, dynamic, sometimes-a-trickle, son-of-a-bitch river is no more. It is now the calm, placid Colorado that can be turned off to the drop by orders of the Secretary of the Interior.

Talk to the river runners, even to the canoers in UA Outdoor Adventures. The flow is not based on violent monsoon storms or Rocky Mountain spring melts, but now on the electricity demand of Phoenix and its other colossal desert sister-cities.

The bureau made it possible to live in the desert and love it. But, many in favor of a free-flowing Colorado would disagree. Katie Lee, a river runner and folk singer, even goes so far to call the government-beast the ãWreck-the-Nation Bureau.ä

Earlier on Monday, another handful of river-lovers got together in the parking lot near Hoover Dam to protest the celebration of a century of reclamation, or 100-years of river destruction. The 84 organization-signed message is clear and loud ÷ a declaration for the restoration of a free-flowing Colorado River.

It is a bold endeavor. It is an essential venture. But there is no one who cannot imagine the West without water better than us desert-dwellers, and no one can take the credit but the bureau. Colleen Dwyer, a Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman who attended the shebang at Hoover Dam, proudly admits that the goals established by the Boulder Dam Project have been achieved.

ãAlthough the level of Lake Mead is dropping, the process is operating the way it was intended ÷ to supply water (to the seven Colorado River Compact states) without shortages,ä Dwyer said.

Many would disagree with their success. According to Living Rivers, a grassroots non-profit organization, the act of fulfilling that goal represents a significant violation of the National Park Serviceâs 1916 Organic Act, which states that the Department of the Interior is to ensure the protection of the natural integrity of the Grand Canyonâs resources for future generations.

The Grand Canyon is suffering a slow, devastating death due to the presence of their dams. Without the sediment and nutrients, warmer temperatures, and annual flow patterns, the natural ecosystem of the Grand Canyon faces Armageddon.

Now that the dam building days are over for the bureau, what about the next 100 years of reclamation?

Dwyer was quick to give a well-thought out and shallowly-satisfying answer.

ãWe plan on managing our facilities more efficiently and in cohesion with the environment through an examination of the existing framework.ä

That could be considered the politically wise answer in a nation filling with environmentally cautious citizens. But, restoring ecosystems is a difficult task when delivering water and power are the most important goals.

Owen Lammers, the executive director of Living Rivers, said ãThe bureau has never and will never be interested in preserving river ecosystems.ä

And heâs right. In the West, water flows uphill to money, and the bureau is the master facilitator in the trade.

It could be argued that the underlying conflict between the bureau and organizations like Living Rivers is deep in the philosophical heart of ãconservation.ä While the bureau believes conservation is maximizing the usage of the water, others feel that it means the preservation of nature in its pristine state.

Despite this clash in doctrine, the Grand Canyon cannot be saved unless direct action is taken by the bureau.

We can only hope that the future of the bureau was taken seriously over glasses of champagne. Owen Lammers has a great idea. How about urging the bureau to ãuse the same spirit and creativity they displayed in their dam building years and apply it to the current problems.ä

Only through Congressional elections, environmental education, and a true conservation ethic the Grand Canyon can be saved. Letâs hope the bureau plans for ãenvironmental enhancementä do not flow away only to die before reaching the delta.