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ADVANCED NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINAR: THE COLORADO PLATEAU

Professors Chris Winter & Mark Squillace
Spring Semester, 2025

Applications are now open for this seminar.

Download application instructions here.

Deadline To Apply: Mon, Nov 4th by 5pm
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This three-credit seminar is designed as the capstone course of our natural resources curriculum. ÌýThe class will meet on Tuesdays 2:30-4:10 with a possibility to extend to 4:30pm.Ìý We can offer three credits because of the substantial time we will be spending in the field as described below.Ìý The course is available for twelve law students, and three graduate students from other disciplines, with strong interests and backgrounds in natural resources issues in the American West.Ìý It provides students with the opportunity to tie together materials that they have studied in various courses relating to natural resources law and policy by moving beyond their textbooks and learning how the issues play out in the real world.Ìý To accomplish this goal, students who enroll in the seminar must commit to a week-long field trip over spring break on the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý The course focuses on a specific geographical area where numerous resource issues converge.Ìý This year our focus will be on the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau.Ìý We will begin by embarking on an interdisciplinary study of the geography, the history, ecological issues, cultural issues, resource development and use issues, and the economy of the Region.Ìý We will then consider current legal and policy issues on the Plateau as they relate to federal public lands, wildlife resources and habitats, Tribal co-stewardship, water quantity and quality, Native American law and Native American rights, land use planning, air pollution, and the balance between state and federal power.

Author Ray Wheeler describes the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau as follows:

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý The ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau is a physiographic "province," a region geologically and topographically distinct from other parts of the West. Originally named the "ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateaus" by explorer John Wesley Powell, the "Plateau" is in fact a huge basin ringed by highlands and filled with plateaus. Sprawling across southeastern Utah, northern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and western ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥, the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau province covers a land area of 130,000 square miles. Of America's 50 states, only Alaska, Texas, California, and Montana are larger.

Asked to explain what makes the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau unique, geographers grow cryptic, enigmatic, even mystical. Perhaps that is inevitable, for nothing is more typical of the "Plateau" than enigma itself. Geologically, it is perhaps best defined by what did not happen to it. While the Rocky Mountains to the east and the basin and range country to the west were being thrust, stretched, and fractured into existence, the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau earned a name for itself by the simple device of remaining structurally intact.

"The ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau is extremely ancient," says author F.A. Barnes, an expert on the region's geology. "As a distinct mass of continental crust, it is at least 500 million years old -- probably a lot older." Such longevity is especially impressive when one considers the globetrotting adventures of the North American continent from the perspective of continental drift theory. Over a period of 300 to 400 million years, while the land mass that would become the North American continent inched northward from the South Pole, gradually disengaging itself from Africa, Asia, and South America, the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau region drifted along comfortably on its western edge. Now shoreline, now inundated by rising seas, the entire region accumulated huge quantities of sediment, gradually sinking under its own weight until heat and pressure hardened the deposits into a mantle of sedimentary rock several miles thick. Even when the entire western United States began to rise some 10 million years ago, eventually climbing to elevations as much as three miles above sea level, the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau region remained stable – perhaps "floating" on a cushion of molten rock.

Though volcanic eruptions ring its perimeter, few have penetrated the interior of the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau. Blocked by massive layers of sedimentary rock, rising magma could do no more than bulge its thick roof into domes -- the "laccolithic" Henry, La Sal, and Abajo mountain ranges -- before cooling and hardening in place. The tremendous tectonic forces which formed the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains had far less effect on the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau. Shielded or cushioned by something deep in the earth, the Plateau mirrored those forces but dimly -- as broad, dome-shaped uplifts, shallow basins, and long folds or "reefs."

Wilderness at the Edge: A Citizen Proposal to Protect Utah's Canyons and Deserts, Utah Wilderness Coalition, at97-104 (1990).

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý The ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau is an area of extremes.Ìý It can be bitterly cold in the winter and unbearably hot in the summer.Ìý It is among the most beautiful places on earth but it is also quite fragile.Ìý And it is the scene of many significant environmental conflicts and controversies, including, for example, proposals to build two massive dams in the Grand Canyon (which failed), the decision to build a massive coal-fired power plant in Page, Arizona (which operated for decades and recently closed), and the decision to designate several major national monuments in the region, including most notably, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the Bears Ears National Monument (which are both embroiled in ongoing litigation).Ìý Resources issues involve grazing, mining, logging, oil and gas development, renewable energy development, primitive and motorized recreation, water rights (including Indian water rights), wildlife, including endangered species, and important cultural resources and Tribal co-stewardship.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý The seminar is divided into three parts. The first part includes the nine weeks of the semester before Spring break. To get us ready and in the mood for the seminar, we will read Charles Wilkinson’s, terrific book, Fire on the Plateau, and Ed Abbey’s, The Monkey Wrench Gang, over the holiday break.Ìý The first class will discuss logistics for the course as well as these two books.

During the following eight weeks of the class four groups of students will each prepare and present materials under our supervision that cover various aspects of the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau.Ìý Each group will have two classes to share what they have learned, to answer questions, and to facilitate discussion.Ìý We will have one introductory class before student presentations begin, but this schedule means that the first group will have to prepare their materials over the holiday break so that they are ready to go on week two of the seminar.Ìý (The other groups should also begin to collect the materials that they will use over the break.)Ìý We will oversee this effort with meetings and discussions that suggest the most useful materials to share.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Set forth below are the four subject areas that the groups will cover during the first part of the course:

• Group 1:The history of the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau, including the cultural and natural history of the region, historic resource development and uses.
• Group 2:The legal framework that underlies the management of the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau.This should include a review of the key statutes such as the Federal Land Policy and Management act (FLPMA), the General Mining Law, the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Antiquities Act, the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and perhaps others.This should be a review for most students and should be approached accordingly, but it is important for setting the stage for the last two groups.
• Group 3: Contemporary resource and development issues, including conflicts over mineral development, oil and gas development, water development and water resources, logging, agricultural development including grazing, and renewable energy development.
• Group 4: Protected lands, endangered species, cultural resources and Tribal co-stewardship, climate change, and ecological issues.This should include the present and expected future impacts of climate change on the region and its implications for law and policy. It should also address issues relating to the fragmentation of the ecosystem from development and recreation activities.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý The second part of the course involves a week-long field trip. We will meet with land managers, lawyers, tribal representatives, environmentalists, political leaders, business people, and other informed people in the region, and conduct on-site visits to experience the area’s unique resources. We are particularly interested in understanding conflicts and possible solutions to those conflicts as informed by our interdisciplinary studies.Ìý

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý In 2025, the field trip will take place during our spring break, from Friday, March 21st through Saturday, March 29th.Ìý The field trip is a critical part of this course, and students must commit to participate fully in the field trip as a condition for enrolling in the course.Ìý We have a modest budget for running this course and we will try to organize the course so that we can stay in comfortable accommodations with minimal additional costs for the participants.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý There may be opportunities to hike or engage in other recreational activities during the field trip, and we will ensure that the trip is accessible and welcoming for all students. Please reach out to Professors Winter and Squillace if you have any questions about the trip.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý This is a seminar, so each student will be expected to prepare a substantial research paper that relates to some aspect of the issues and resources affecting the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Plateau.Ìý During the third part of the course, which includes the four weeks after spring break, students will workshop their draft papers.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý We look forward to working with you to make this course informative, inspiring, fun, and a great success!

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