The Latest News ...
Grand Canyon News Archive!
September 01 to December 31, 2000

The idea of building a light-rail transit system into Grand Canyon National Park may not be set in stone. Park superintendent Joe Alston said last week that a bus alternative is being studied, based on flat visitation statistics.

The first pair of breeding-age California condors were among those released into the wild this month at Vermilion Cliffs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported. They joined 15 young condors already flying in Grand Canyon-area skies.

The pair of condors were flown in early November from the captive breeding program at the Peregrine Fund's World Center of Prey in Boise, Idaho to Marble Canyon and then transported to Vermilion Cliffs. In addition, another pair of breeding-age condors, eight young condors and one condor that was previously released and brought back into captivity due to his attraction to humans were flown to the release site.

Air tour operators hoping for more freedom in the skies over the Grand Canyon got some wind beneath their wings today when the Federal Aviation Administration let pass a deadline for strict new flight rules to limit noise over the national park.

Given a new date of March 22, air tour operators are hoping President-elect George W. Bush will ease, instead of tighten, restrictions on sightseeing flights over the Grand Canyon. "There is no question in our mind that the Bush Administration will take a more balanced view of air touring over the Grand Canyon and throughout the United States," said Steve Bassett, president of the United States Air Tour Association. Bassett said his trade and lobbying group provided "very, very aggressive support" for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

A Wilderness Society official said Thursday that a coalition of environmental groups, including the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club, intend to keep fighting for quiet-Canyon provisions won during the Clinton administration. The effort has an ally in Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican who has pushed for limiting aircraft noise over the Canyon. McCain has long sought a goal of returning "natural quiet" to the canyon.

Rose Fennell, Wilderness Society national parks program director, said that in the summer, visitors to the canyon's South Rim can expect a helicopter or airplane to pass overhead every 17 seconds.

"The issue is who controls the Grand Canyon - specialized economic interests or the American people," Fennell said.

Air tour operators "make a lot of money shuttling people in and out of the Canyon," she said. "The Grand Canyon is a public trust." Seven Las Vegas-area companies provide air tours of the Grand Canyon, 170 miles to the east.

She said new routes were developed during two years of discussions and accused air tour operators of touting safety but balking at devoting time to learning new routes when the off-peak season began. "If they were that concerned about safety, they would have shut down tourist overflights in November and learned the new routes," the Wilderness Society official said.

A Colorado man accused of pushing his wife 200 feet to her death in the Grand Canyon more than seven years ago pleaded guilty today to a first-degree murder charge. Robert Merlin Spangler, 68, of Grand Junction, will be sentenced to life in prison under a plea agreement. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 12.

Authorities said Spangler confessed to the crime last summer, shortly after being told by doctors that he had terminal lung and brain cancer. He also reportedly confessed to killing his first wife and their two children in 1978.

"Spangler is a vicious killer who has been brought to justice," said Jose de Jesus Rivera, U.S. attorney for Arizona. "It is difficult to comprehend how he could kill his wives and children in such a cold-blooded manner."

Robert Spangler told park rangers that his wife had fallen off a redwall on Horseshoe Mesa as she posed for a picture. But the death seemed suspicious to relatives, who said she was agile and afraid of heights. The victim was Robert Spangler's third wife.

He also faces three Colorado charges of first-degree murder stemming from the shooting deaths of his first wife, Nancy, and their two teenage children on Dec. 30, 1978, in Arapahoe County.

Spangler told authorities he was enamored with another woman he had met at work, and would later marry, and felt that murder would be easier than divorcing 45-year-old Nancy after 23 years of marriage.

December 08, 2000 BLM releases off-road vehicle strategy?!

From the SUWA
On December 6th, BLMs long-awaited National OHV Management Strategy has finally hit the streets, and as expected, it offers virtually nothing for on-the-ground protection. Instead, its a mish-mash of vague and unenforceable suggestions that offer nothing more than empty promises and additional bureaucracy, with the focus on maintaining riding opportunities for local ORV groups. The strategy is available at www.blm.gov, and there
is a 30-day comment period before its finalized. Please send your comments to:

Bureau of Land Management OHV Strategy
U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
1849 C St NW
Washington, DC 20240

Specifically, let the BLM know that you are tired of seeing ORVs damage BLM lands, and that it is time for the agency to impose some limitations. At a minimum:

1 WSAs should be closed to ORVs.
2 BLM should manage public lands as closed to ORV use unless posted open.
3 ORV use should not be permitted unless it is on "designated" (not just "existing") routes identified after full NEPA analysis and public participation.

December 08, 2000 Comments needed on Jeep Safari at Moab!

From the SUWA

Jeep Safari BLM tries to skate-by without an environmental assessment of one of the largest permitted events in the Moab area: Easter time in the Moab area should mean a time for bighorn sheep lambing, for raptors to fledge, a time to hike a quiet canyon on a warm spring day, or bike your favorite route. It's a time when kids are out of school, college is on break...for some, it is the only time that the whole family can get away from the motorized mayhem of the city. Unfortunately, Easter time in Moab does not provide this escape since it is totally dominated by one single use: motorized recreation.

It's obvious to everyone but the BLM that much of this use is spawned by the annual Jeep Safari. Since 1985, the BLM has issued three five-year permits for the Jeep Safari, and the permit is now due for renewal. This time around, the BLM is attempting to avoid preparing an environmental assessment, and instead rely on a 1996 document. The problem is that the 1996 EA is no longer adequate since new issues have arisen, and concerns have expanded. In order to convince the BLM that these issues and concerns exist, however, we need to impress upon them that:
- Conflicts between the Jeep Safari and other user groups are substantial and are a growing problem. If you have had problems enjoying your hiking, biking, site-seeing, wildlife viewing,
camping, driving around the area, parking, or other activities because of the Jeep Safari, tell the BLM about them. It is important to emphasize that your concerns are directly related to the Jeep Safari event.

- The cumulative impact of all permitted and non-permitted activities must be analyzed in one document before the Jeep Safari permit can be issued.

- The BLM must consider the impact of permitted events within areas the agency recently identified as having wilderness character in the 1999 Wilderness Inventory.

- The BLM must address alternatives that limit total use and use on certain trails, close trails, and otherwise address these and other concerns. Please send an original letter expressing your concerns and demanding that the BLM prepare an environmental assessment (EA) with a full public comment period to:
Maggie Wyatt
BLM Moab Field Manager
82 East Dogwood Ave
Moab, UT 84532

December 07, 2000 GCHBA Service Project at Indian Gardens!

A GCHBA service project is set at Indian Garden. The project will be
Thursday through Saturday March 29th to 31st 2001. Please contact Mike Coltin if interested.

Duties will be Painting, pruning, picnic table repair, trail work including - hauling dirt, water bar building, lining trails, planting cactus. Mike is looking for a total of ten volunteers. Let him know if you are interested in volunteering as he needs to make the proper reservations.

December 07, 2000 Lee’s Ferry Boat Launch Changes (from gcpba)

River runners rafting the Colorado River through Grand Canyon this spring will see new changes at the Lee's Ferry launch ramp camps, as work on the Lee's Ferry Riparian Revegetation Project gets underway.

In January, approximately 10 acres of streamside invasive Tamarisk vegetation will be bulldozed into windrows. The cleared area will be planted with native riparian trees and shrubs such as Willow, Cottonwood and Four Wing Saltbush. The area to be cleared includes the area from the Lee's Ferry launch ramp downriver to the start of the Paria debris fan. This area includes the camping areas historically used by downstream river runners prior to their departure into Grand Canyon National Park.

Through unintentional oversight, the project would have eliminated the area used by private river runners for camping, while preparing to launch their trip. This would have left the only camping area for river runners more than a mile from the boat launch.

Planners were able to accommodate the need for a camping area by modifying their original plan to make an area large enough to include camping for several river trips. The revised design allows for continued river runner camping just downstream of the ramp. Besides adding additional vehicular access to the downstream end of the launch ramp currently used by non-concessions.

December 02, 2000 Mt Trumbell School Update

November 22, 2000 Highway 67 to N rim is Closed!

Highway 67 to the north Rim from Jacob Lake is now closed for the season. It will open again in May, 2001. Cross-countr skiing will now be possible from Jacob Lake to the Rim of the Canyon.

November 17, 2000 A wet, wet, cold fall!!

It has been not only wet, but cold so far this fall! Locals are saying it is shaping up to be like 1983 or 1985 when they was plenty of snow and cold weather beginning in October. The South Rim has already had snow in October and November and temperatures are running almost 10 degrees below normal through out the entire state. Last weekend the lows were 3 degrees at the South Rim! Bring lots of warm clothes, instep crampons, and backcoountry skis!

November 17, 2000 CFV is voted way down!

November 7, 2000  Thirteen New Condors to go to Vermillion Cliffs!

October 31, 2000  New Superintendent at Grand Canyon!

Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt announced Thursday that Joe Alston, superintendent of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, will replace Rob Arnberger as head of Grand Canyon National Park. Secretary Babbitt made the announcement at the opening of the Canyon View Information Plaza at Grand Canyon National Park.

The 50 year old Alston has been managing Glen Canyon for the last 5 years. During his tenure at Glen Canyon, Alston is credited with creating a water quality program that has cleaned up the shores of Lake Powell. Before his Glen Canyon tenure, Alston was the deputy superintendent at Yellowstone National Park for 5 years.

October 09, 2000 A Canyon Desperado comes to justice!

After 67 year-old accused killer Robert Spangler learned of his lung and brain cancer on Aug. 12, he started saying goodbye to scattered friends, telling them how he expected to face his death.

The monster had just confessed to the murder of at least 4 people!

According to investigators' accounts of Spangler's confession in late September, death always had been an easy way out for him. Robert Spangler married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Stahlman of Ames, Iowa, in the mid-1950s. They moved to Colorado, where they held good jobs and raised two children on Franklin Way in Arapahoe County.

Details of their life together are sketchy. But authorities now say that Spangler grew dissatisfied with his suburban family life and on Dec. 30, 1978, shot 45-year-old Nancy in the head, 17-year-old son David in the chest and 15-year-old daughter Susan in the back.

A neighbor discovered the corpses - both children were in their bedrooms, Nancy downstairs. Spangler told investigators he had been at work. At the time, authorities concluded it had been a suicide-double homicide by the mother.

But years later, after another Spangler wife had fallen to her death in the Grand Canyon, new questions would be raised about the deaths of Nancy and the children.

Investigators now theorize that Spangler left the family's .38 caliber revolver near Nancy along with a typewritten suicide note upon which he apparently had obtained her initial at some point, perhaps while the paper was blank.

Some time later, the date is unclear, Robert Spangler married his second wife, Sharon, although there is no marriage certificate in this state. Robert and Sharon Spangler lived together in the same home on Franklin Way in the Littleton area until their divorce in 1988. But their relationship did not end there. Shaorn was the author of a Grand Canyon hiking guidebook.

Sharon, although divorced from Spangler, later moved into his attractive Durango West home. On Oct. 2, 1994, she died at age 52 from a drug overdose - either suicide or an accident. Investigators, although initially suspicious of her death, have strong evidence that Spangler didn't take her life.

That was not to be the case with Spangler wife No. 3. Bob and Donna Spangler moved to Durango in 1991. Spangler, now semi-retired, worked parttime in Durango as a country music deejay for KRSJ-FM, where he quickly won a following. Spangler had another consuming passion - hiking the Grand Canyon. He vacationed there many years and filled his home with photos he'd taken.

Spangler wanted to take Donna there. "She was afraid of heights," Joan McCabe, a former Durango Sports Club manager, said of Donna. "She was real leery of going to the Grand Canyon, but Bob really wanted her to go. It was really important for Bob, she told me." On Easter Sunday, 1993, 58-yearold Donna Spangler fell 200 feet to her death off a Grand Canyon ledge on the Grandview Trail. At the time, Robert spun a story about her posing for a snapshot and apparently stumbling. He had his back to her as he adjusted his camera and tripod, he said, and he saw and heard nothing - she just disappeared. But last month, Spangler told investigators that shoving his wife off the ledge was "simply easier than divorce." Donna Spangler left behind five children from a previous marriage and five grandchildren.

"I'm just really glad he's been arrested because we always suspected him," McCabe said of some of Donna's friends at the sports club. "I was always surprised that nothing came of it until now. I hope he goes to hell. He deserves it."

In a further strange twist, Linda Wallace, friend and confidant of Robert Spangler, was the girlfriend of Jason McVean, one of the infamous Four Corners fugitives. Accused of killing a Cortez policeman in May 1998, McVean is the only suspect still at large. The Four Corners fugitives are discussed in the latest Tony Hillerman book, Hunting Badger.

 

Snow has already fallen in the San Francisco Peaks!

Ben Peterson, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said the conditions that brought Flagstaff its dry winters the past two years are beginning to change. Peterson said predictions even beyond 10 days are problematic, but Flagstaff's winter should only be slightly warmer than normal and slightly drier than normal.

Part of the reason for the uncertainty is that the weather forecasters' favorite whipping boy and girl -- La Niña and El Niño -- appear to be going away. For the first time in three years, the tropical Pacific Ocean isn't running unusually hot or cold, and the neutral conditions are leaving climatologists with fewer pieces of the puzzle. Gone are the heady days of confident predictions months into the future.

Unlike El Niño and La Niña years, nothing appears strong enough to dominate the complex climate system. That means the effects of relatively small forces such as the moisture of an individual storm could determine whether an area is wetter or drier or warmer or cooler than usual.

For the record, climatologists predict a slightly warmer-than-normal winter for much of the United States. They're less certain about the Northern border states, where decisions must be made on whether to stock up on home heating oil and road salt.

 October 09, 2000 Dept of Energy to remove uranium tailings near Moab!

Toxic flow from closed mill taints Colorado River neaar Moab!A pile of uranium mill tailings perched on the edge of the Colorado River near Moab, Utah, will be cleaned up within the next 10 years, thanks to a Defense Department budget that moves oversight of the Cold War relic from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Department of Energy.

The tailings, left over from 22 years of processing uranium for weapons, leach a toxic brew of radioactivity mixed with ammonia, arsenic, lead, selenium, mercury and other heavy metals into the Colorado River, which supplies drinking water to 23 million people downstream in Nevada, Arizona and California.

The DOE estimates that 28,800 gallons a day of the poisonous liquid leaks into the river. DOE Secretary Bill Richardson vowed in January to take charge of the Cold War remnants, which amount to 10.5 million tons of tailings. The defense budget bill, which includes initial funding for the removal of the tailings, was passed by Congress on Friday and goes to President Clinton for his signature. It will take an estimated five to seven years to remove the tailings.

As part of the Moab cleanup, Congress approved a deal that involves the largest voluntary return of land in 100 years. The United States is giving 84,000 acres of oil- and gas-rich reserves about 80 miles north of Moab back to the Indians, Richardson said. In return, some royalties from the sale of oil and gas by the tribe will help fund the Moab cleanup.

The Ute tribe received the land under an 1882 treaty, but the United States took it back during World War I for the petroleum. The buried treasure was never tapped.

The bill also protects scenic land along the Green River in Utah. Environmentalists and critics of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's proposed solution were pleased with the plan approved by Congress. They had feared that a natural disaster such as the Colorado River flood of 1983 would breach the cap and wash more toxins into the river. When the river flooded in 1983 water lapped at the tailings, only 750 feet away.

"This is a landmark piece of legislation for everybody who cares about the Colorado River," Bill Hedden of the Grand Canyon Trust, an environmental oversight group, said. "We are removing a major source of contamination from the most important water source in the southwest."

October 05, 2000 Rangers investigate a Badger on the South Rim!

October 01, 2000 Glen Canyon Water Releases forcast!

On October 1, 2000 releases will return to a pattern of low fluctuating flows. Load following releases will resume, and shall be governed by the parameters of the 1996 Record of Decision for the Glen Canyon Dam Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Releases in October will average about 9,800 cfs. On weekdays, daily fluctuations will vary between a low of about 6,800 cfs (during late evening and early morning "off peak" hours) to a high of about 12,800 cfs (during late afternoon and early evening "on peak" hours). On weekends, releases will vary between a low of about 6,800 cfs during off peak hours to a high of about 11,000 cfs during on peak hours. Releases in November will likely be very similar to the October pattern.

September 26, 2000 Yea! Canyon visits down a bit!

It's expensive for Europeans right now!

Visits: (August 2000 633,529) (August 1999 652,910) % Change -3.0

YTD Visits (2000 3,484,241) (1999 3,584,096) % Change -2.8

September 20, 2000 Gary Adams Glen Canyon Update!

Water year 2000 has been dry in the Upper Colorado River basin. April through July unregulated inflow into Lake Powell was only 4.35 million acre-feet, 56 percent of the long term average.

Water year 2000, began in a dry cycle, with basin precipitation first three months (October - December, 1999) being only about 30 percent of average. January, February and March, however, were months with above average precipitation. In early April, hydrologic conditions in the Colorado River basin were approaching average, with basin snowpack at 90 percent of average, and forecasted inflow to Lake Powell at 85 percent of average. Since April, it has been much drier than normal, however. Precipitation in the Colorado River basin over the past 4 months has been only about 50 percent of average. The result of this dry period has been less inflow into Lake Powell than was forecasted in the spring.

Inflow to Lake Powell has been much below average since May. Unregulated inflow to Lake Powell in June, July and August was only 49, 25, and 27 percent of average, respectively. Inflow is forecasted to be much below average for the months of September and October as well. Under the current forecast, unregulated inflow to Lake Powell in water year 2000 will be 7.3 million acre-feet (62 percent of average).

The current elevation of Lake Powell is 3679 feet (21 feet from full pool). Current storage is approximately 21 million acre-feet (86 percent of capacity). Inflow into Lake Powell is currently running about 6,000 cfs.

September 18, 2000 Condors Finally Re-released!

The Grand Canyon Private Boaters Associantion, believes other early pioneers are worthy of the honor on the river’s "Roaring 20s." And perhaps White should be immortalized elsewhere on the river. "We don’t have any opposition of naming a rapid for her," said Jo Johnson, membership director for the GCPBA. "We just think that’s not the right one."

Lets name rapids for Emery Kolb, Robert Brewster Stanton, John Wesley Powell, Bert Loper, and Elwyn Blake first!

The renaming of the rapid at the federal level has not yet been approved. Arizona’s decision was forwarded to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and that group will review the request. Johnson said the GCPBA is not planning to do anything as an organization in opposition to the renaming of the rapid. But the federal group can probably count on receiving a few opinions from private boaters.

Johnson said White was no friend of private boaters. "She created a trend that was pretty difficult for the Canyon in the last few years," Johnson said. "She made a plan that there was no room for private boaters."

White was known for being the first to use inflatable, motorized rafts on the Colorado River. About the time of her arrival in the 1950s, commercial river running really began to take off. Johnson just believes there are other river runners worthy of such an honor. "Many other river runners have no rapids named for them," Johnson said. "These historical giants such as Emery Kolb, Robert Brewster Stanton and John Wesley Powell have yet to have any rapid named in their honor. Besides that, to change the name of the last rapid Bert Loper ran alive in 1949 might not be such a good idea."

Johnson suggested that Whitmore Rapid be renamed Georgia Rapid because she was one of the first commercial river operators to use the Whitmore Helicopter Exchange area. "She used to fly people out at Whitmore Rapid on helicopters," Johnson said. "She started that practice even after the Park Service asked her to stop. But it was on Indian land. It was not a great idea, but once it started, it was pretty hard to stop it.

September 05, 2000 New water pump motor installed on transcanyon pipeline!!

A Columbia Helicopters Boeing 107 and crew hauled the water pump motor down to Indian Garden.

The $28,000 electric motor, which weighs 5,000 pounds, is a 750-horsepower, 460-volt unit with the capability of pumping 640 gallons per minute up to the South Rim. The original pumps, which date back to 1966, could pump 520 gallons per minute. "Not only can we lift more water, but it’s more cost efficient," Martin said. "The motor has the ability to lift 325 million gallons per year." The pump motor that needed to be replaced went out back in January.

The Columbia Helicopters’ Boeing 107, whose pricetag for the dual operation of hauling down the motor and bringing up a vehicle from the Abyss was about $40,000, performed the operation Sunday morning because of the preferred cold, morning air. The Columbia Helicopters’ crew is experienced in these types of jobs, The company, based in Portland, Ore., performs similiar jobs all over the world.

September 05, 2000 Vehicle finally raised 1,000 feet out of Abyss!