Fall 2023 Report | Returning Rapids Project
2023 was a very dynamic year for Cataract Canyon. In September and October, the Returning Rapids Project (RRP) completed three Cataract Canyon research trips and one North Wash-based survey effort. This year, RRP has continued to monitor changes, build a data set, and communicate the story of what we are observing along this section of the Colorado River.
The Colorado and Green River basin snowpack and resulting high runoff in lower Cataract Canyon scoured the river corridor at a rate researchers have not seen before. This led to one of the area’s largest single sediment slumping incidents ever recorded. Through the lower canyon, where the river is eroding the reservoir-caused delta, the river further incised into its sediment bed. Data from survey methods confirm that this is the case. The intent of this report is to catalog these changes. – Returning Rapids Project
