Flooding at Grand Canyon

PAGE, Ariz. - Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Wednesday pulled a switch at Glen Canyon Dam to release the sort of springtime torrent rarely seen and sorely missed by native fishes since the 710 vertical feet of concrete blocked the muddy Colorado River.
    The former Republican governor of Idaho ushered in 60 hours of gushing meant to rebuild the canyon's beaches and sandbars with sand that tributary streams have dumped below the dam. He said the third such experiment since 1996 will help scientists learn how to balance natural and human demands on scarce Southwestern water. The humpback chub, a Colorado Basin native whose bulbous head makes it resemble a spawning salmon, is most endangered among the species that need more natural flow.