The man who oversaw the research that led to the
historic “man-made” flood in the Grand Canyon last spring has
resigned. River ecologist Dave Wegner quit after Interior
Department officials closed down his Glen Canyon Environmental
Studies office and replaced it with a research center headed by a
biologist with little experience in river
management.
Wegner said that Interior Secretary
Bruce Babbitt had assured him that the agency wanted him to
initiate similar studies for other Western rivers harnessed by
dams. Instead, Wegner said, Bureau of Reclamation officials offered
him transfer positions within the agency that didn’t make use of
his expertise.
“A 13-year intellectual investment
is in danger of being squandered,” said Wegner, who plans to set up
a consulting firm to continue his river restoration
work.
Former BuRec Commissioner Dan Beard said
political forces that opposed the idea of reducing power production
at Glen Canyon may have finally caught up with Wegner. To do good
science in the canyon, said Beard, Wegner and his team “had to step
on some toes.” Some “long knives’ being sharpened for over a decade
have now come out and done their work, he
added.
An Interior spokesman said the agency
valued Wegner’s work and would use it as the basis for restoration
efforts around the country.
* George
Sibley
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Glen Canyon team dismantled.
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