![\"lake-powell.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/tour.airstreamlife.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/lake-powell.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAt 4300 feet elevation, Page is also a little higher than I’d like for over-wintering. \u00a0 Tucson made a better fit for its relatively low altitude, averaging about 2000 feet. \u00a0 But Page is undeniably a nice spot. \u00a0 From many places in town, you can see Lake Powell, a startling blue jigsaw puzzle piece sitting in the middle of sandstone formations just a few miles away. \u00a0 I like seeing glimpses of it while in town doing routine errands.<\/p>\n
The lake is here to stay, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some controversy about it. \u00a0 The Glen Canyon dam that created the lake prevents the Colorado River from seasonally flooding the lower river basin, especially in southern California. \u00a0 It also generates over a gigawatt of electrical power (when the lake is full), and of course the lake makes a nice recreational spot.<\/p>\n
The downsides of the dam are numerous, and you’ll hear about them from the National Park Service \u00a0 rangers all over the southwest. \u00a0 For example, the dam prevents silt and gravel from reaching points downstream, thus stopping the natural erosion of the Grand Canyon, and wiping out riverside beaches. The lake has altered the desert ecosystem, bringing in lots of non-native species and eliminating others. \u00a0 The beautiful Glen Canyon is gone. \u00a0 Loss of floods has eliminated the natural renewal of nutrients in the Imperial Valley, forcing farmers to use petroleum-based fertilizers. \u00a0 The list goes on and on …<\/p>\n
And the dam won’t last forever. \u00a0 It will silt up beyond usability in 500 years, but long before that it will start to have age-related problems and eventually somebody is going to have to figure out what to do with it. \u00a0 All of the dams built on the Colorado have the same issues. \u00a0 Hoover\/Lake Mead will get a little extra time because Glen Canyon is capturing more of the silt (being upstream).<\/p>\n
So Page is a beautiful spot today but also temporary. \u00a0 It was built as a worker’s town in the 1950s, enjoys its heydey right now, and will perhaps someday fade if Lake Powell disappears in the distant future. \u00a0 It could happen. \u00a0 You only need to look at the impact on Salton City, CA, as the accidentally-created Salton Sea<\/a> evaporates today.<\/p>\n