U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that his department will begin experiments testing if manmade floods — flowing into the Colorado River — will better protect wildlife and archaeological sites.

The floods would be released from the Glen Canyon Dam and could cause a buildup of sandbars and beaches along a 277-mile span of the river in the Grand Canyon.

“We must find a way to protect one of the world’s most treasured landscapes — the Grand Canyon — while meeting water and clean energy needs in the face of climate change,” Salazar said in a video message to the Colorado River Water Users Association in Las Vegas this week.

The high flow experiments surfaced first in 2008 when torrents of water were sent from the dam on the Arizona-Utah border for 60 hours to simulate natural flooding. However, the results didn’t last long and new sandbars eroded within months.

Since 1963, the Glen Canyon Dam has stopped 90 percent of sediments that offer a sustainable habitat for plants and animals. Several endangered species of fish have also declined.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press