How long will it take and what will it cost?
Within a decade of draining the reservoir it is anticipated
that Glen Canyon's magnificence will again begin to manifest itself.
In the side canyons, this will occur more quickly, as sediment flushing
and plant regeneration occur almost immediately. Within and around
the main channel, where extensive sediment deposition has occurred,
more human assistance will likely be necessary to facilitate the
process. No one expects the Glen to again look exactly as it once
did, evolution itself ensures this never occurs, but experience
gained on smaller river restoration projects has revealed that habitat
not only can regenerate itself, but often does so much faster than
scientists predict.
The actual cost will be more a factor of how much
we would like to help the natural process along. The federal government
is currently allocating nearly $9 billion to restore a riverine
ecosystem critical to the Florida Everglades that was destroyed
by development projects built by the Army Corps of Engineers, thus
developing the political support to secure such resources is far
from unprecedented.
As for the reservoir's "bathtub ring," rain
and other natural forces will erode that back to its original color.
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