As Lake Powell shrinks, the Colorado River is coming back to life

“Wallace Stegner would be unsurprised, and Ed Abbey grimly pleased, to know that Lake Powell is now dying the death it so richly deserves. Dave Foreman too—he might be smiling down at the spectacle from some heavenly planet, though of course Dave always preferred Earth first. Anyone who cherishes the great wild canyons of the West—Glen Canyon and all the rest—may take solace, and insight, and maybe even hope from this fascinating account of how climate change and drought are forcing a radical reimagining of western water management. The good news, as Zak Podmore reminds us, is that, despite human doltishness, nature abides.”

— David Quammen, author of Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus

“A journalist explores how climate change and design flaws in the Colorado River’s Glen Canyon Dam are leading to the death of a major reservoir. The twist: It could offer the opportunity for a more sustainable future.”

— New York Times Book Review

“Taking readers on a kayaking trip through Glen Canyon, Podmore shows how the once depleted basin is restoring itself. Blending science and narrative, he makes the case that our moment of crisis is an opportunity to build a more sustainable future.”

— Outside

“Though it follows in the proud tradition of classic western water books like Mark Reisner’s Cadillac Desert, Life After Dead Pool blazes its own original path. Through writing that is both personal and immaculately reported, Zak Podmore sidesteps some of what have become the cliches of writing about “Lake Foul,” giving us the joys of the place along with the grumbles. It is a fresh take on the present and future of the Colorado River, beyond nostalgia, as he witnesses long-buried canyons emerge and flower with native plants, and it offers a plan both visionary and practical, on how the river can, once again, redeem the region.” 

— David Gessner, author of All the Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner and the American West

“While water may be one of the West’s most intractable issues, intrepid journalist Zak Podmore offers us a hopeful and practical solution, shared from the seat of his kayak on a years-long journey through a dying reservoir. Around every bend is more proof of a new paradigm as Podmore interviews a host of experts, shares a fascinating history and bears witness to a robust natural ecosystem that is miraculously emerging from the depths of what was considered one of the worst environmental crimes of the twentieth century.”

— Annette McGivney, author of Pure Land and Resurrection: Glen Canyon and a New Vision for the American West

“Zak Podmore explores a future without Glen Canyon Dam through the lens of a journalist and the soul of an adventurer. The future of water management in the West starts with asking tough questions, and Podmore investigates the issue’s centerpiece.”

–– Morgan Sjogren, journalist and author of Path of Light: A Walk Through Colliding Legacies of Glen Canyon

“An inveterate explorer of the American Southwest, Podmore has crafted an intimate look at the dramatic changes unfolding in the canyons of Lake Powell, and in doing so, he engagingly challenges most of the historical and contemporary wisdom of Southwestern water policy. None of the prominent stakeholders escape scrutiny. But Podmore is no simple critic. He outlines several exciting future policy paths with realistic optimism.”

— Mark Udall, former U.S. Senator

Praise for Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political on Rivers of the New West

“Zak Podmore has written a book of promise: a promise beauty matters; a promise that history lives through us; a promise that the Colorado River teaches us about life and death and the depth of both.”

— Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Hour of the Land and Erosion