"On the other side of the dam” it was said, GCRG had our Fall Meeting up on Lake Powell at the end of October. With many thanks to Breck Poulson and the crew at Wilderness River Adventures, we were able to take advantage of a generous offer through Aramark, using two of their houseboats plus a sporty run-about. We extend our sincerest thanks to Teva for the monetary donation to make the dent for gas and food that much smaller, and to Helen Yard for contributing her tasty Toucanet coffee to wake us up on Sunday morning. We had quite the flotilla with the addition of several other speed (and not-so-speedy) boats. This was my first time on the Lake, and I encourage all who have not taken the opportunity to visit Lake Powell to do so. All of us had a fantastic time in this beautiful spot— hiking, boating, bonding—it was truly a great community-building event and one we hope to repeat. We limited the official meeting time to about an hour before we left our camp on Sunday. This gave us a chance to relax and talk informally for the most part during the weekend. Many items presented during the meeting time are topics discussed at board meetings and are presented in this issue of the bqr. Traditional Cultural Properties for river runners, epinephrine legislation, a wage and benefit survey, and the upcoming crmp are all issues we are currently considering. As we should like to make extremely clear, anyone is welcome to direct comments about these or any other topic to anyone on the Board of Directors or Lynn Hamilton. Better than that, get Lynn to inform you of the board meeting schedule and come. Your input is welcome and encouraged! When I was deciding to run for the board, I asked around for some advice and I got some opinions about gorge. This is one of the reasons I want to stress that we are all in this together. If you are a guide, or anyone concerned about the Canyon and river trips, we want your thoughts. We like to think that we are working on things that truly matter to the Canyon boating community in general, and specifically, to guides.

Also, as Drifter Smith pointed out, we are not the Flagstaff Rowing Club. Gorge has good representation from motor as well as rowing guides, and a number who do both. Our board also regularly includes guides who are not Flagstaff-based, there again mirroring the diversity of this river running community. I would like to mention a word about the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (amp). Before coming to the board, I knew relatively nothing about the amp. This Program was formed as a result of concerns about the downstream effects of Glen Canyon Dam. This is our working environment. Gorge has two representatives in the Program: Andre Potochnik, who sits on the Adaptive Management Work Group (amigo), which sends recommendations for Dam operations to the Secretary of the Interior; and John O’Brien, who sits on the Technical Work Group, which provides credible scientific information to the amigo for well informed management decisions. If you have access to the internet, check out http://www.usbr.gov/uc/rm/amp/twg/twg_members.html and the various links. The layers of groups and meetings are sometimes confusing and a bit off-putting for us who want to run the river. We did not become guides to sit inside and talk. The Grand Canyon River Guides organization is here, however, to take your direction and go with it. Your input on all topics is valuable, and we are here to listen. Lastly, we encourage all guides to contribute to the Boatman’s Quarterly Review—artwork, stories, photography, poetry, etc. We want this publication to be reflective of the diverse talents of this vibrant guiding community!

Joe Pollock