Steadily dropping levels of Lake Powell are challenging the National Park Service to find boat launch solutions/Kurt Repanshek file

After a summer that saw steadily declining levels at Lake Powell in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the National Park Service is trying to figure out how best to ensure boating access to the lake in 2022. Workable solutions are key, as last summer's decline produced economic hardships in Page, Arizona, the southern gateway to the NRA.

At least one hotel in Page filed for bankruptcy due to plummeting reservations, according to city leaders, and a houseboat operator canceled 400 reservations in late July after falling lake levels forced the Park Service to close boat launch ramps. At the same time, the agency rushed to complete construction and rehabilitation work to maintain boating access to Lake Powell throughout the summer season.

That work "included rehabilitation of Stateline Auxiliary Ramp, and access to the legacy Wahweap Auxiliary Ramp," said NRA spokesperson Mary Plumb in an email to the Traveler. "Boiler plate ramp extensions were installed at multiple boat launch locations to prolong the use of existing launch ramps and provide interim use of a legacy asphalt 'spur road' on the side of the Bullfrog Main Ramp. This provided continued launch and retrieval of motorized vessels in Bullfrog, Utah."

Now the Park Service is working with an outside contractor, Jacobs Government Solutions, to identify "possible long-term solutions and options in four visitor use areas: public launch ramps at Bullfrog, Halls Crossing, Antelope Point, and a primitive launch and takeout ramp on the Colorado River in the Hite area," wrote Plumb.

"This work will result in information about possible actions to maintain visitor access and estimated costs associated with the suite of options," she added. "The contractor will begin to scope out potential locations for new ramps, new infrastructure, and possible mitigations for existing infrastructure that could be compromised by low water. There is more to come, and we look forward to sending out more updates especially as more things begin to materialize."

A successful solution for boaters hoping to launch into Lake Powell is needed to keep the houseboating economy going/Kurt Repanshek file

Any designs the contract provides for consideration will have to go through the National Environmental Policy Act process, which includes review and input from the public.

"The contractor is focusing on concept designs and is conducting early listening sessions with design stakeholders, such as NPS field staff and concessioners," wrote Plumb. "Civic engagement with the public will also occur."

But as that design work is progressing, predictions of 2022 water flows into Lake Powell are declining. In mid-October the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued a forecast that called for an 800,000 acre-foot reduction in flows previously anticipated into the reservoir behind Glen Canyon Dam. 

"With the decrease in the inflow forecast in water year 2022, Reclamation’s October projections indicate Lake Powell’s elevation at the end of water year 2022 (Sept. 30, 2022) will be about eight feet lower than the September projections," a USBR release said. "The projections also indicate the increased potential of falling below minimum power pool (the water level needed to drive the dam's hydrogeneration plant), elevation 3,490 feet, in 2022. Should extremely dry hydrology continue into next year, Lake Powell could reach elevation 3,490 feet as early as July 2022."

Additionally, the release pointed out that, "[M]ost of the flow of the Colorado River originates in the Rocky Mountains. The Upper Basin experienced an exceptionally dry spring in 2021, with April to July runoff into Lake Powell totaling just 26 percent of average, despite snowpack reaching 89 percent of median, due to dry soil conditions and above-average temperatures."

How soon any boat-launch solutions might be implemented, though, is unknown, as a price tag has not been identified and the park has no dedicated funds to spend on the eventual solution.