We can sit around blaming the govt, or we can gain a wider perspective by reading Cadillac Desert, Dam Nation, and some other fine books about western U.S. water scarcity and exploitation by a worldwide cast of characters.
I've read Cadillac Desert, you condescender. As though that book would cause one to trust the government's competency, integrity, or stewardship of the environment?
I may have misread the book, but I recall stories of manipulation of the govt dam builders (bureau and corps) by investors from Europe, Asia, Wall Street, oil industry and railroads. And newspapers writing gloss over pieces that buried the truth and distributed blame as they saw fit ( who owned those newspapers?)
Tim Stich
·
Jul 1, 2015
·
Colorado Springs, Colorado
· Joined Jan 2001
· Points: 1,520
It sounds like the damage estimates were overstated. Elevenmile to reopen soon.
Damage reports to the displaced staff were also a bit dramatic. Flash floods rolled though the region on Wednesday night, causing more damage to roads and campsites, and further eroding the destabilized river banks.
Nonetheless, Elevenmile Canyon is open for business, again, after three days of almost non-stop cleaning, pruning, and painting by the Canyon Enterprises staff (the folks who pushed for the holiday reopening), as well as extensive DWB road work in the worst spots (although there are plenty of erosion gullies on the river side of the road to accommodate those Darwin Awards winners who just can't yield or drive the recommended 20 mph).
Wagontongue Road is also open, although it is a strictly self-rescue situation; the road is recommended for high-clearance 4WD only, with expert drivers, and if you have an emergency in either the canyon or on Wagontongue that does not involve an overwhelming threat to life and limb, you are on your own.
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