Lees Ferry (page 5 of 5)

Lees Ferry Today

A river trip  through the Grand Canyon beginning at Lees Ferry first takes boaters through majestic Marble Canyon. Photo NAU.PH.96.4.91.64 by Bill Belknap courtesy of Cline Library Special Collections, Northern Arizona University.

During the first five decades of the twentieth century, only thirteen Grand Canyon river trips launced at Lees Ferry. In fact, through the 1940s and 1950s until construction began on Glen Canyon Dam, trips through Glen Canyon were far more common than those through Grand Canyon. Thousands of people boated the calm waters from Hite, Utah down to Lees Ferry, making visitation at Lees Ferry higher than at any other previous time. After completion of the dam, boating in the Grand Canyon increased tremendously, rising from 280 boaters in 1962 to 16,000 in 1973. Today, the number of boaters is controlled by NPS and maintained at about 20,000 per year.

The creation of Glen Canyon Dam has had dramatic effects on the ecology and stream dynamics of the Colorado River within the canyon downstream of the dam. Before the river was impounded by the dam, it carried a tremendous amount of sand and silt, especially during spring floods, scouring the canyon bottom and eroding and depositing material on the river shores. Now, water discharge by the dam is controlled, virtually sediment-free and of a much colder temperature, leading to many changes in the river ecosystem. Beaches are eroded, but cannot be resupplied with sand; native plants and fish have been displaced by exotics; some wildlife has disappeared, while other species, such as waterfowl and Peregrine falcons, have increased. In 1994, an attempt was made to simulate flood conditions with a large release of water from the base of the dam. Results from the experiment were mixed, and management of river flows remains a controversial issue.

Another effect of the dam has been the establishment of and/or encouragement of exotic and invasive species throughout the river corridor, including tamarisk, Russian olive, and several fish species, all of which may compete with and displace native species, changing the composition and functioning of the river ecosystem. Restoration programs are underway to eradicate some of these exotic species, restore habitats, and allow native species to recover.

The clear, cold waters released from Glen Canyon Dam, flowing past Lees Ferry, at a consistent temperature of 46-48 degrees F, support one of the country's premier "tailwater" trout fisheries. Trophy rainbow trout feed in great numbers in the first 20 miles downstream from the dam, drawing anglers from around the world. While many people enjoy the fishing here, and the attraction is a significant boost to the local economy, the trout are not native to this section of the Colorado, and the conditions allowing them to thrive are driving the remaining native fish ever closer to extinction. This odd transformation of Lees Ferry to international fishing haven is just the most recent in a long, colorful, and sometimes bizarre history of human endeavor that has focused on this modest gap in the labyrinthine canyons of the Colorado River.

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--Researched and written by Shannon Kelly

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