We just received a letter from Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt appointing me to represent, from Grand Canyon River Guides, recreational river runners in Grand Canyon on the Adaptive Management Work Group (AMWG). The AMWG is a newly formed Federal Advisory Committee composed of representatives from a diverse array of constituencies whose purpose is to advise the Secretary on how best to operate Glen Canyon Dam in the future so as to satisfy the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992... “to preserve, mitigate adverse impacts to, and improve the qualities of the river corridor for which Grand Canyon National Park was created”.
It is an honor to represent the more than 20,000 people who run the river each year on the AMWG. For this reason, our Adopt a Beach program for monitoring the changing condition of critical camping beaches takes on a new importance. We will continue to need your collective expertise, obtained from a program that pulls together observations and knowledge from all of you who rely upon this very important resource. The terrestrial riverine habitat is mostly about sand; where it is, where it isn't, and what processes are causing it to move around.
All 45 of our selected “critical” beaches were once again adopted by commercial river guides. This year's adopters are listed to the right. Thanks to you all! Your photographs last year were great. In analyzing them, we found that your personal comments were incredibly helpful in interpreting the photographs. Every word you wrote was like buried treasure. So, do more of that this year! Give us a short summary of your thoughts and observations. We need to build a solid consensus opinion about the changing status of beaches, vegetation and so forth, so that we can continue to become a more influential force in how the dam is operated.
And many thanks to those of you who adopted a beach financially—your support means everything.

Jackass, left 8.0 Johnny Douglas
Badger Cyn, right 8.0 Ken Kotalik
Salt Water Wash 12.2 Kim Claypool
12.2 Ginger Birkeland / Lorna Corson
19 Mile 19.1 Jeri Ledbetter
20 Mile 19.9 Bronco Bruchak
North Canyon 20.4 Tom Furgason / Charly Heavenrich
23 Mile 23.0 Mike Campbell
Silver Grotto 29.3 Kevin Johnson
Nautiloid Canyon 34.7 Christa Sadler
Tatahatso Wash 37.7 Kelley Wilson
Bishop Camp 38.3 Bert Jones
Buck Farm Cyn. 41.0 Scott Mosiman / Jerry Cox
Below Nevills 75.6 Paul Haacke
Hance Rapid 76.6 Lynn Roeder
Clear Creek 84.0 Charly Heavenrich / Jenny Gold
Above Zoroaster 84.4 BJ Boyle
91 Mile Canyon 91.0 Andre Potochnik
Trinity Creek 91.6 Bob Dye
Above Salt Creek 92.2 Steph White
Schist Camp 96.0 Bert Jones
Boucher Canyon 96.7 Rob Noonan
Crystal Creek 98.0 Roger Dale
Lower Tuna Rapid 99.7 John Littlefield
Ross Wheeler 107.8 David Brown / Jon Baker
Bass Camp 108.3 Robbie Pitagora
110 Mile 109.4 Jerry Cox / Kenton Grua
Upper 114 Mile 114.3 Tom Vail
Lower 114 Mile 114.5 Anthea Elliott
114.5 Mary Ellen Arndorfer
Below Bedrock 131.1 Peg Bartlett
Galloway Canyon 131.8 Johnny Douglas
Stone Creek 132.0 Sarah Hatch / Jon Hirsh
Talking Heads 133.0 Ed Hench
Racetrack 133.5 Kelley Wilson
Lower Tapeats 133.7 Kim Bast
Owl Eyes 134.6 Julie Munger
Backeddy 137.0 John Toner
Kanab Creek, above 143.2 Katherine MacDonald
Olo Canyon 145.6 Connie Tibbits
Matkat Hotel 148.5 Bill Karls/Mike Borcik
Upset Hotel 150.4 Kate Thompson
Last Chance 155.7 David Desrosiers / Jon Hirsh
First Chance 157.7 Jeri Ledbetter
Tuckup Canyon 164.5 Mark Piller
Upper National Cyn. 166.4 Eric Christenson / Rob Noonan
Lower National Cyn. 166.6 Mike Davis

Andre Potochnik