By Melissa A. Lynch ’95
Navigating a river of debate
the Colorado was recently rated the most endangered and over-allocated river in the country. “We’re using more water than is there.” The program for the Chilean teens focused on the dams’ ecological impact in the Grand Canyon and was designed to help them apply that knowledge to the situation in Chile. “They’re primed to absorb this information,” Munroe says. The trip ended with a 12-day kayak adventure from Lee’s Ferry to Pearce Ferry, running the entire 290-mile length of the Grand Canyon, finishing in Lake Mead. Since her time at Clark, Munroe has done some freelance writing to spread the word about issues dear to her (a recent article about Ríos to Rivers appeared in Canoe and Kayak magazine). At the same time, she has worked various seasonal jobs — ski resorts in the winter and as a river guide in the summer. She spent the last two winters in Chile during their summer season, researching the proposed dams and getting to know the local population. The New Hampshire native never could fit studying abroad into her Clark years, but since graduation she’s more than made up for it with time spent in New Zealand, Antarctica, South America and Wyoming. She is now settled in Salt Lake City. Munroe appreciates the value of experiential learning, something she saw put into practice at Clark. Her current role on the rivers is a perfect match with her ideals. “I’m very passionate about people and the world,” she says, “and I’m happier if I’m actively involved in doing something to make it better.” Learn more at Riostorivers.org. Find out what Munroe is up to at susanmunroe.com.
fall 2013
dreamed of writing for National Geographic. “I wanted to teach people about the world,” she says. And that’s what she’s doing. Munroe may not be writing for National Geographic (yet), but as cofounder and operations director of Ríos to Rivers, a nonprofit that advocates for the protection of rivers using outdoor education programs, she shares her knowledge through kayakingexchange trips for teens in Chile and the United States. The American teens travel to the Pascua and Baker rivers of Chilean Patagonia, while the Chileans visit the Colorado River and learn about its history of dams — particularly the Hoover and Glen Canyon dams. “We help them understand what it means to dam a river,” Munroe says. Two dams are proposed on the Baker River and three more on the Pascua River, and the trips “give the kids the information they need to make up their own minds. Our goal is primarily education. We’re not an activist group.” Munroe says that damming the rivers in Patagonia means an enormous tradeoff for the local community, as the natural ecosystem would be irrevocably disrupted. The five-dam complex, called HidroAysén, is the largest of many proposed hydropower projects in Chilean Patagonia. “The developer has promised the community jobs, improved roads, scholarships, a new hospital, etc.,” Munroe explains. “The local debate falls along these lines: pro-dam folks cite progress, development and jobs. The anti-dam folks say that the benefits of the dams are all short-term — the jobs will only exist for the 15-year construction phase — and in the long term, they’ll lose the even greater resource of wilderness/tourism potential.” Opponents point out that Chile has few regions left like Patagonia; there is hope for tourism development of “one of the last great wildernesses.” The region is marked with just one dirt road and it is not developed. The construction of a dam would involve new roads and infrastructure, machinery in the riverbed and lead to deforestation. All energy created would be transmitted 1,400 miles north, meaning an “enormous swath” would need to be cut through native land, reserves and wetlands, Munroe says. “We want to help the Chileans deepen their understanding” of the issues involved, she says. In the spring of 2013, eight Colorado high school students went on an exchange to the Baker and Pascua rivers in Patagonia. The students, when they were not kayaking, learned first-hand about the dam debate. They spent four days in Santiago and attended both pro- and anti-dam meetings, and they met people whose homes would be flooded out by the dams (some of these residents favor the project). “It’s one thing to look at an issue from far away, but it’s completely different to be in the place and meet the person whose home would be gone,” Munroe says. “They got to paddle the river, touch it — they got a good sense that it’s not a black-and-white issue.” The Chilean teens were exposed to both the positive and detrimental facets of the dams during their visit to the Colorado River this summer. “The history of water in the west is complicated,” Munroe says, noting that
45 clark alumni magazine
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hile an undergrad at Clark, Susan Munroe ’05