Fish rescue takes to the air

Fish flew last weekend along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, as part of an ongoing effort to add more spawning areas for one endangered species. Tiny humpback chub were scooped out of the Little Colorado River flowing out of the Navajo Nation last year and grown through the winter in New Mexico. Some 300 of them were loaded into coolers this past weekend and flown by helicopter into Havasu Creek -- a waterway flowing north into the Grand Canyon from the oft-photographed blue-green waterfalls on Havasupai tribal land. How best to operate the dam to protect river ecosystem while still guaranteeing all states their allotted water supplies and generating power for some 1.3 million customers in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico Utah and Wyoming? Among the scenarios: ramp up power production, lay aside some electricity generation during the hotter summer months, add warm water to the Colorado River below the dam, or purposefully drop river levels quickly in an attempt to kill some of the trout that eat chub by stranding them on dry shores. Restoring the chub has also been a big project for the Park Service, costing upward of $100,000 per year...more