Zak Podmore: Is It Time to Decommission the Glen Canyon Dam?

Event Details

Is it time to decommission the Glen Canyon Dam?

Despite the above-average snowpack this spring, climate change and increasing water demand in the Southwest have drained Lake Powell to record-low levels in recent years, sparking a water crisis across the Colorado River Basin. For the ecology of Glen Canyon, however, the changes have been overwhelmingly positive. Hundreds of miles of canyon streams have sprung back to life as natural wonders and cultural sites have resurfaced.

Award-winning journalist Zak Podmore will share photos and discuss the dozen trips he's taken to Lake Powell with scientists, archaeologists, environmental groups, and water policy experts over the last two years. The talk will explore the question: Would the needs of Southwestern cities, farms, and rivers be better served without Lake Powell?

Zak Podmore is a journalist and river runner based in Bluff, Utah. As a staff reporter forThe Salt Lake Tribune, Zak covered politics, public lands, and water in southern Utah. His writing has also appeared in Outside, Slate, Sierra, USA Today, National Geographic Traveler, High Desert Journal, HuffPost, and Canoe & Kayak magazine. He wrote his first book, Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political On Rivers of the New West (Torrey House Press, 2019), while working as a river ranger in Bears Ears National Monument. Zak's second book, which will examine Lake Powell's decline and the rebirth of the Colorado River in Glen Canyon, is forthcoming from Torrey House Press in 2024. He is the recipient of the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers award and is the Entrada Institute's 2023 writer-in-residence.

Event Type(s): WPL Programs

Age Group(s): Adult