Photographer and Filmmaker Dawn Kish, above the Colorado River at Hite Overlook, Glen Canyon, 2021. She’s holding a tripod and the original camera of photographer Tad Nichols. Nichols studied under Ansel Adams and documented Glen Canyon before it was submerged.
Lake Powell hit a record low water level Aug. 14, 2026, when it fell to 3,519.91 feet above sea level. The once mighty Colorado River was dammed here in the early 60s, flooding Glen Canyon and creating the country’s second-largest reservoir.
But climate change, drought and over-use have left Powell in dire straits. That means the red rock walls of Glen Canyon are reemerging from a watery grave, and photographer and filmmaker Dawn Kish is documenting what’s happening.
Seven states and 40 million people depend on water from the Colorado River, and for some, the Glen Canyon Dam for its power generation. But as state and federal leaders grapple with how to share the dwindling water, Kish had a different reaction to Lake Powell’s decline.
“This is wonderful news. I guess I should go get a boat and more film,” she said.
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Kish concedes that we all need water and power “unless we all went off grid.” But she prefers alternative power sources.
“Now that we know that we can make a lot of power, solar or wind, there's other options,” she said. Hydropower is just not as reliable. Obviously, if we're having droughts, we might want to shift to something that's a little bit better.”
In the meantime, Kish is working to fund other trips to Glen Canyon to continue chronicling its return.
“I’m documenting a part of history. If I’m not taking photographs of what I am seeing, no one knows about it. Art convinces people to look at things and change their minds or become educated so it can at least somehow be protected.”
Tad Nichols
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Courtesy of Dawn Kish
Tad Nichols took this photo from the campsite in Hidden Passage, a side canyon submerged by Lake Powell. “Most of his photographs were from 1950 to 1963, when the dam started filling up the reservoir,” Kish said. “It showed you these beautiful canyon walls. They were curved, and then you would see the river flowing through the canyon. The places that he was at were still like 100, maybe 200 feet down. It is still a lake, so I didn't really get to document exactly where he was.”
Kish is documenting Glen Canyon in the footsteps of Tad Nichol’s pre-Lake Powell photographs. The exhibit “Glen Canyon Exposed Now and Then” can be viewed at the John Wesley Powell River History Museum in Green River until Aug. 29, 2026.
Tad Nichols
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courtesy of Dawn Kish
A 1950s view of the Colorado River with Gregory Butte in the background. Kish said Nichols “would do these aerials so that you can see the canyon from above. Then he would walk in these side canyons, and you could see beautiful cottonwoods. And he describes in his journals about seeing the birds and the flora and fauna. He described it as a paradise that no photographer could ever endure, which is great.”
Courtesy Dawn Kish Photo + Film
Glen Canyon’s Gregory Butte, 2021. The butte was once surrounded by water, creating a rock island. “Now, it’s exposed and connected to the entrance to West Canyon,” Kish explained. “The dead trees that were there are now trees that are alive and flowers, and still like a little side river coming down the side canyons. And just can't believe how fast it's coming back. So, these flash floods would just come down and scour out all the debris and all the mud and all the guck that the lake brought in, and then just bring back these amazing wild habitats.”
Courtesy Dawn Kish Photo + Film
Little Arch Canyon, 2021. “Many arches come and go under the reservoir’s numerous water level fluctuations,” Kish said. “'m just scratching the surface of what's being revealed now, and what I'm seeing is just gorgeous. I can't even imagine what it looks like, you know, or what it looked like in the '50s. I bet it was just paradise, like he [Nichols] said.”
![Little Arch Canyon, 2021. “Many arches come and go under the reservoir’s numerous water level fluctuations,” Kish said. “'m just scratching the surface of what's being revealed now, and what I'm seeing is just gorgeous. I can't even imagine what it looks like, you know, or what it looked like in the '50s. I bet it was just paradise, like he [Nichols] said.”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/102394d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/840x560!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F71%2Ff1%2F6ad275a6470b917ca3e1a15278ca%2Fglen-canyon-2way-kish-2021-little-arch-canyon-16x20.jpg)
