When it comes to the Colorado RIver Basin, the management of resources must consider the scale at which effects are felt. We talk with Lucas Bair, economist with the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center in Flagstaff, AZ. His work deals with the monitoring and researching resources downstream from Glen Canyon Dam and also provides science to federal agencies, providing additional science and information that helps them make informed decisions when managing the basin. Ideally, this monitoring and research helps inform not only the delivery of water and the production of hydropower, but also the management of ecosystems and other resources at the basin scale.