You can boat, fish, hike, camp, swim, observe wildlife and simply relax and enjoy the outdoors. The monies earned are fuel for the local economy not to mention used for helping to maintain this wonderful and scenic play spot. If Lake Powell were drained, many people would lose their jobs and the unemployment rate on the Indian land would rise above its current 50%. It would make the land in Page a lot less valuable and cause considerable financial loss for many people in the area. .
The next reason is the wildlife in the lake and surrounding canyon, which would face danger and even sustain severe loss. The lake is inhabited with many types of game fish. The current compilation of insects, wild plants, and animal life would be scoured out and destroyed. Beaver populations would be reduced, rattlesnakes would be killed, Southwest Willow Flycatchers would be displaced, the Peregrine Falcon populations would be reduced and many other animals would lose their homes. Additionally, the remaining native fish varieties would be wiped out by non-native predatory fish moving up from Lake Mead. Even though GCI states that the fragile ecosystem of the Grand Canyon is in jeopardy, it is very difficult to see how changing the face of this land by decommissioning the Dam and draining the lake will help solve that problem when it causes less damage to keep it than to get rid of it.
The final and most compelling piece of Lake Powell is the power that it generates. GCI states on its website www.glencanyon.org that the Lake and Dam are "counterproductive" which simply isn't true. The Glen Canyon Dam provides flood control along with water storage. But that is a small contribution compared to the capacity 1356MW of power that the Glen Canyon Dam can provide. The Glen Canyon Dam is also a major generator for the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP). Depending on the runoff from the current year, the Glen Canyon Dam provides 75-85% of the total CRSP generation.