Editors: A complete schedule of events is posted on the NRLC home page at .
What has been accomplished in the field of water law and science during the past 20 years? Or, more importantly, what has not?
Those questions and others will be discussed at the 22nd annual CU-Boulder Natural Resources Law Center's Summer Conference to be held June 13-15 at CU's Fleming Law building in Boulder.
Titled "Two Decades of Water Law and Policy Reform: A Retrospective and Agenda for the Future," the conference will draw scholars and politicians from across the country for a comprehensive review of where water policy has been and to suggest where it may be headed.
"This year's conference will generate ideas useful to the new administration," said Gary Bryner, director of the center. "The center exists to provide political decision-makers with accessible research. When the issue regards the use of our limited water in the mountains, our first priority is to ensure decision-makers are informed of differing perspectives, and of the latest research as well."
The conference is a vehicle for tackling complicated water-use decisions at all levels of government, added Bryner. "In Colorado, we struggle with projects such as the proposed Animas-La Plata Dam in the Four Corners region of the state. How do we value Colorado's last free flowing river in the context of acquiring water for the Navajo or Hopi in Northern Arizona?"
Speakers for this year's conference include John Leshy, former solicitor of the Interior Department, Justice Greg Hobbs of the Colorado Supreme Court, Brian Richter, director of the Freshwater Initiative of the Nature Conservancy, and David Getches, professor in the School of Law and former director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
Particular sessions of note include: "Clarifying State Water Rights," "Acquiring Water for Tribes," and "The Bush Administration's Agenda for Water Law."
Registration for the entire conference is $565, but for people from government, non-profit and academic institutions the cost is only $290. Single day sessions are available for $85.
For 27 years, the University of Colorado School of Law has presented conferences on western land and water policy and law. The Natural Resources Law Center has hosted them for the last 22 years.
The center has numerous research and consulting projects in progress throughout the year, several of them multi-year programs that require the center to draw on various fields of research and to perform in many roles. Some of the most active programs include Environmental Justice in Natural Resources, Valuation of Public Lands, Western Water Resources Research and Land Management at the Urban/Wildland Interface.
For more information contact the center at (303) 492-1272 or visit the NRLC home page at .