Life After Dead Pool is out today!

My new book on Lake Powell's decline and Glen Canyon's rebirth is now available

Hi friends,

In 2021, I spent a week on the Colorado River with a group of scientists who were studying how Glen Canyon was changing as Lake Powell fell to record-low levels.

It was no surprise to me that climate change and overuse of water in the Southwest were putting immense strain on the Colorado. I didn’t realize, however, that Glen Canyon — the “lost Eden” of redrock that drowned under Lake Powell in the 1960s — was coming back to life, not in spite of climate change but because of it.

Sixty-foot-tall cottonwood trees had taken root beside the remains of wrecked jet boats in the former reservoir bed. Many of these scenes were surreal, but there was no doubt: Glen Canyon was healing. The trip was enough to send me back into Glen Canyon again and again over the next few years. I met up with experts on ecology, sediment, economics, archaeology, and water policy to learn more about Lake Powell’s decline (which is a good thing for Glen Canyon!) and what it means for the future of the Colorado River.

There’s a lot more to the story, and you can read all about it in my new book Life After Dead Pool, which is out today from Torrey House Press. Find it at your local bookstore, ask your library to purchase, or order online.

Kevin Fedarko calls it “a chronicle of both personal and ecological redemption.” Mark Udall says it “challenges most of the historical and contemporary wisdom of Southwestern water policy.” As a former U.S. Senator (D-Colo.), Udall knows a thing or two about contemporary wisdom, and he was kind enough to say that my book also “outlines several exciting future policy paths with realistic optimism.”

I have a few events coming up (see below) and more in the works. If you have a book club that’s interested in reading Life After Dead Pool, or if you have an idea for a book event in your area, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thanks!

Zak

Events

August 26, 2024

Flagstaff, AZ - Brightside Bookshop

September 10

Virtual - Grand Canyon Trust

September 18, 2024

Durango, CO - Maria's Bookstore

September 19, 2024

Mancos, CO - Fenceline Cider

September 20, 2024

Grand Junction, CO - Colorado River District

October 18, 2024

Salt Lake City (details TBA)

October 19, 2024

Green River, Utah - John Wesley Powell River History Museum

October 24, 2024

Telluride, CO - Wilkinson Public Library

October 25, 2024

Carbondale, CO - with White River Books at Carbondale Public Library

A chronicle of both personal and ecological redemption by a gifted writer and observer, as well as a stirring affirmation that, even in a world suffering from terminal burnout, seeds can take root, flowers can blossom, and hope abides.

—Kevin Fedarko, The Emerald Mile and A Walk in the Park

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

“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