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Glen Canyon is home to dynamic and constantly changing landscape.Since 2001, declining water levels due to climate change and 20 years of drought have reshaped Lake Powell’s shoreline. Today we are experiencing low lake levels and their effects on boat ramp access points, on-lake facilities, and the landscape.
For real time lake level information, view the Bureau of Reclamation's Upper Colorado River HydroData. To learn more about the Upper Colorado River Basin and the operations of Glen Canyon Dam, including the 24-month predictions, visit the Bureau of Reclamation's website. Lake Powell Current Water LevelLake Powell Elevation (12/11/2024)3574.05 ftLake Level Effects to Launch Ramps and Services
Lake Powell Water Access Update from the Superintendent December 2024As we close out another year at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Glen Canyon) and begin our planning for the New Year to come, I want to pause and thank each of you for your dedication to this park. We enjoy the benefit of having so many partners to work with throughout the year. Operating a unit of the National Park Service in these times truly does take a village. Many of you invest your valuable time to volunteer in a multitude of ways, ranging from trash clean ups to orchard monitoring, campground hosts and graffiti removal. Your contributions extend our efforts ten-fold. Soon, volunteers will gather to collect data for the annual Christmas Bird counts. This is just another example of how the community contributes to the work we do in protecting this resource. Our team at Glen Canyon has been nationally recognized for the work that they have contributed to the recent Hurricane events on the east coast. We could not be prouder of their contributions to our agency and their support to severely impacted communities. While there may be changes ahead for the leadership in our agency, the work on the ground at Glen Canyon continues. In 2025, our team will be focused on the many projects and initiatives we have well underway. We will continue sharing with you through this newsletter. I want to extend my warmest holiday wishes from the team at Glen Canyon to you our loyal stewards. Sincerely, One of our first larger projects planned in this location was a project for a low boat ramp at Bullfrog Stanton Creek. The Bullfrog Stanton Creek location offers lower elevation ramp possibilities. With the updated Bureau of Reclamation target elevation commitment for Lake Powell at an elevation of 3525 and existing Bullfrog ramps already providing access as low as 3519, an investment in that Bullfrog Stanton Creek ramp is not as urgent currently. The design and costing work we have done with that project may still be useful in the future so it is an option we have in our back pocket for lower water levels should they be forecasted again. We have not stopped evaluating and pursuing federal and state grant opportunities (in collaboration with the state of Utah) to resume ferry access in this area. This ramp is currently open to paddlecraft only. Planning and design continues for a construction project which would extend this ramp to enable public water access for a variety of user groups. The Park is working with the Navajo Nation to determine the preferred design option. The contractor will finalize this work into a report for the park to move the project to schematic design next. The park received FY 23 disaster supplemental funding for this project. This funding will cover design to construction of this project. The NPS (Glen Canyon NRA and Canyonlands National Park), the economy of Utah, and the river rafting community are affected by the need for a sustainable takeout ramp at Hite for Colorado River trips in Cataract Canyon. Glen Canyon secured FY 23 Disaster Supplemental Funding to rapidly advance the planning and design for a new river takeout ramp that will be more sustainable long-term. This will fund a design build contract for this project, restoring access to the river at Hite. NPS had previously undertaken hydrology assessments that have identified feasible recommended locations. The location selected for this new ramp is on the south side of the Colorado River, just west of the bridge at Hite. We are moving quickly to obtain schematic designs and begin our environmental assessment process. A design build contract, which culminates in construction, will then be announced by our project managers at Denver Service Center. We don’t have solid dates for construction start and completion at this time. Once we have schematic designs, the NPS will begin the environmental and cultural compliance process. That National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process will inform our contracting timelines for a design build contractor. We will share updates as they become known and after we have the schematic design for the ramp. We appreciate your interest and look forward to working with all interested and affected parties on this. We know how important mid-lake fuel is, and NPS has been working hard to find an alternative way to provide mid-lake fuel to boaters. We are planning a mid-lake fuel service station that will be operational at low water and not dependent on support systems from a fixed, land-based station. Congress authorized funding support for this alternative fuel station in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget appropriation in a Disaster Supplemental. A contract was awarded to a marine engineering firm (Stantec) to provide a design for this new infrastructure. A Stantec team did field work to survey and develop design concepts for this replacement infrastructure. When we have those design concepts, we’ll begin the evaluation process and engage our affected communities and stakeholders to ensure we construct a long-lasting mid-lake fueling station that will serve us well in the future. We are moving forward with long-term planning for access infrastructure that will have features and functionality that will support water visitation to Rainbow Bridge National Monument at lower water elevations. On August 8, 2023, the NPS Denver Service Center issued a solicitation for architect and engineering services to relocate and rehabilitate the Rainbow Bridge floating walkways and anchor system. The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) utility rehabilitation of Wahweap and Lone Rock is solicitating for abbreviated proposal design and build qualifications from contractors for the wastewater rehabilitation phase. The qualification proposals were due by September 17. Once the phase one qualifications have been evaluated for competencies, the qualified contactors will submit detailed proposals for execution. Lake Powell Launch RampsRecreate Safely at Lake Powell
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Last updated: December 12, 2024