Sarah Krakoff
The Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and Environment (GWC) at the University of Colorado Law School has raised $840,000 to launch the GWC Fellows Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative that will train the next generation of natural resource leaders.
The program will formally begin in 2020 with the hiring of two full-time fellows, who will be selected through a competitive national search. With a focus on water and the Colorado River in particular, the first two fellows will address critical issues affecting western watersheds, conduct reform-oriented research on pressing issues in the field, and interact with public and private sector leaders to inform policymaking.
"In Colorado and beyond there is a rising need for thoughtful policy initiatives at all levels of government to manage water usage throughout the Colorado River Basin. The GWC sees an opportunity to help address this unmet need, and similar ones throughout western watersheds, while training the next generation of outstanding and diverse leaders in water law."
"Fellows will get training from the most experienced people in the field, and then bring diverse voices and creative energy to the region’s most pressing natural resource challenges," said Sarah Krakoff, Moses Lasky Professor of Law and interim executive director of the Getches-Wilkinson Center.
The Colorado River provides water and electricity for people throughout the region, including residents of Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque. It also irrigates over three million acres of crops and pasture; provides abundant recreational opportunities for rafting, fishing, boating, and hiking; and serves as habitat for a multitude of fish and wildlife species, including several endangered native fish. Increasingly, demand is outstripping supply for this important natural resource.
"In Colorado and beyond there is a rising need for thoughtful policy initiatives at all levels of government to manage water usage throughout the Colorado River Basin," Krakoff said. "The GWC sees an opportunity to help address this unmet need, and similar ones throughout western watersheds, while training the next generation of outstanding and diverse leaders in water law."
The GWC Fellows Program is supported by David Bonderman, a lawyer, businessman, and significant supporter of conservation initiatives, who contributed a matching grant of $420,000. Additional financial support came from an anonymous donor and the , a collaborative effort to identify and activate promising water solutions through strategic philanthropic investments in the United States, starting in the West.
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