Conference Program & Bios
In September 2012, the Center of the American West, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Public Lands Foundation hosted a bicentennial event entitled 鈥淭he Nation Possessed: The Conflicting Claims on America鈥檚 Public Lands.鈥 The conference reckoned with the dramatic history of the federal government鈥檚 management of the public domain and sought guidance for the future of public lands. Highlights of the conference are collected below, including the听inspired by public lands, recommendations for the future of public lands offered by the听, and a听conversation among leading national public lands figures.
Schedule of Events
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
7:00 pm 鈥 9:00 pm听Student Congress Reception
Center for Community Flatirons Room
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
8:00 am 鈥 12:00 pm Student Congress meets with policy makers
听
10:00 am听Open display area
12:30 pm听Symposium begins
12:30 pm 鈥 12:45 pm听Welcome听(Free & open to the public)
Glenn Miller Ballroom
Bruce Benson
University of Colorado President
12:45 pm 鈥 1:30 pm听Presentation of Awards for the Statewide Art Contest and Showing of Student-Made Films (Free & open to the public)
Glenn Miller Ballroom
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1:30 pm 鈥 2:15 pm听Native American Perspective听(Free & open to the public)
Glenn Miller Ballroom
Walter Echo-Hawk
Native American Rights Attorney
2:15 pm 鈥 2:45 pm听Break
2:45 pm 鈥 4:00 pm
Glenn Miller Ballroom
Session 1: Clerks and Cowboys: The General Land
Office and the Shaping of the United States
When the public thinks of the history of the American West, images of trappers, prospectors, and cowboys rush to mind, but the land office clerks, along with the members of Congress who wrote the land laws, were far more consequential (and often quite colorful) characters. Three historians will explore the origins of the General Land Office, as well as the most famous land law of all, the Homestead Act.
Anne Hyde
Professor of History at Colorado College
Paul Sutter
Professor of History at the 麻豆影院
4:00 pm 鈥 4:15 pm听Break
4:15 pm 鈥 5:30 pm
Glenn Miller Ballroom
Session 2: Burning Man Meets Managing Man:
The BLM and the Energy of American Art
鈥淢ultiple use鈥 has carried a wide range of meanings, but the example of the Burning Man Festival takes that wide range and widens it by several notches! The stories of the BLM鈥檚 response to the 鈥渕anagement challenge鈥 posed by the Burning Man Festival, and the Festival鈥檚 response to the 鈥渂ureaucratic challenge鈥 posed by the BLM permitting process provide a prime case study in the important ties between American art and the public lands.
Will Roger Peterson
Co-founder of Burning Man
Dave Cooper
Former BLM Manager for the Black Rock Desert
7:30 pm 鈥 9:00 pm听(Free & open to the public)
Glenn Miller Ballroom
Interview Event: 鈥淩eflections of a former BLM Director鈥
Bob Abbey
Former Director of BLM
Tim Egan
Author & Writer for The听New York Times
Thursday, September 13, 2012
8:30 am 鈥 9:45 am
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Session 3: Reconciling the Treasures of Resources with
the Treasures of Beauty and Biology: The BLM
and the Art of American Energy
The public lands bring the nation鈥檚 energy issues to a sharp focus. When we make decisions about the development of traditional and renewable energy on public lands (or of federally managed subsurface resources), we face the crucial challenge of balancing the partial recovery of the economy, the reliance on foreign oil, the needs of endangered species, the landscape enthusiasms of the American public, and the uncertainties of climate change. This session will explore the most productive strategies for seeking this balance.
Adrianne Kroepsch
Graduate Student working on Gas Development, 麻豆影院
Bill Ritter
Former Governor of Colorado
Johanna Wald
Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council
9:45 am 鈥 10:15 am听Break
10:15 am 鈥 11:30 am
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Session 4: Science vs. Emotion:
Making Informed Decisions in the Midst of a Stampede
Since the federal government鈥檚 sponsorship of the great explorations of the 19th听century West, the role of science in public policy-making and implementation has occupied center-stage in the region鈥檚 development. This session will explore the experiences of land managers who are committed to taking science into account when dealing with issues that carry intense cultural, emotional, and political charges. What are the best strategies for using science to resolve conflicting demands for the use and protection of public lands?
Mike Dombeck
Global Conservation Professor at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point
Lynn Scarlett
Environmental Analyst & Former Deputy Secretary of the Interior
Curt Brown
Director of Research and Development, Bureau of Reclamation
11:30 am 鈥 1:00 pm听Lunch and Special Address
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior
1:00 pm 鈥 2:15 pm
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Session 5: Respecting Posterity鈥檚 Property
In the course of the last century, there have been several movements to privatize public lands or to return them to the states. What would be the costs and benefits of such a vast change in our current arrangements? Is the periodic rise of the movements for privatization of public lands an inevitable cycle, or are there better ways to manage the points of friction that produce these movements?
Senator Bob Bennett
Former Senator of Utah
John Freemuth
Professor of Public Administration at Boise State University
Luther Propst
Executive Director of The Sonoran Institute
2:15 pm 鈥 2:45 pm听Break
2:45 pm 鈥 4:00 pm
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Session 6: Orchestrating Tradition and Change:
Emphasizing Conservation in the BLM
Conservation asks the people of the present to respect the interests of the people of the future. Asking citizens of a society that seems to be in a constant rush to think seriously about time and its passage will require creative and innovative strategies, and also down-to-earth examples. This session will explore BLM鈥檚 unique approach to conservation in a multiple use environment, with particular attention to the National Landscape Conservation System.
Bob Abbey
Former Director of BLM
Emilyn Sheffield
Professor of Recreation and Parks Management at California State University Chico
Anna Triebel
Recent Graduate of the 麻豆影院
6:30 pm 鈥 8:30 pm听(Free & open to the public)
Glenn Miller Ballroom
The Public Domain and the Public Lands:
1812, 1912, 2112 Reenactment/Preenactment Event
with Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt,
and a Visitor from the Future
Clay Jenkinson
Humanities Scholar and Performer
Bryce Townsend
Actor
Friday, September 14, 2012
9:00 am 鈥 12:00 pm
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Roundtable Conversation:
Turning Hindsight into Foresight:
The Past & Future of America鈥檚 Public Lands, Part 1
How should policy makers think about the public lands in the future? What might be the terms of connecting the well-being of the public lands to the well-being of the nation?
Moderator: Patty Limerick
Chair of the Board and Faculty Director of Center of the American West
Bob Abbey
Former Director of BLM
Steve Allred
Former Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals
Senator Bob Bennett
Former Senator of Utah
Commissioner Michele (Mike) Bloom
Colorado State Land Commissioner
Dale Bosworth
Former Chief of the U.S. Forest Service
Jim Caswell
Former Director of BLM
Adam Cramer
General Counsel for Outdoor Alliance
Art Goodtimes
San Miguel County Commissioner
Lois Herbst
Wyoming Rancher and Former President of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association
Luther Propst
Executive Director of The Sonoran Institute
Lynn Scarlett
Environmental Analyst & Former Deputy Secretary of the Interior
Barbara A. Sutteer
Former National Park Superintendent, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
Johanna Wald
Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council
Duane Zavadil
Senior Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs, Bill听Barrett听Corporation
12:00 pm 鈥 1:30 pm听Lunch
1:30 pm 鈥 3:00 pm
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Round Table Discussion:
Turning Hindsight into Foresight:
The Past & Future of America鈥檚 Public Lands,
Part 2: Next Steps
3:00 pm 鈥 3:30 pm听Closing