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 “The Nation Possessed: The Conflicting Claims on America’s Public Lands.” The conference reckoned with the dramatic history of the federal government’s management of the public domain and sought guidance for the future of public lands. Highlights of the conference are collected below, including theinspired by public lands, recommendations for the future of public lands offered by the, and aconversation among leading national public lands figures.
Schedule of Events
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
7:00 pm – 9:00 pmStudent Congress Reception
Center for Community Flatirons Room
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
8:00 am – 12:00 pm Student Congress meets with policy makers
10:00 amOpen display area
12:30 pmSymposium begins
12:30 pm – 12:45 pmWelcome(Free & open to the public)
Glenn Miller Ballroom
Bruce Benson
University of ֱ President
12:45 pm – 1:30 pmPresentation 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 – 2:15 pmNative American Perspective(Free & open to the public)
Glenn Miller Ballroom
Walter Echo-Hawk
Native American Rights Attorney
2:15 pm – 2:45 pmBreak
2:45 pm – 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 ֱ College
Paul Sutter
Professor of History at the University of ֱ Boulder
4:00 pm – 4:15 pmBreak
4:15 pm – 5:30 pm
Glenn Miller Ballroom
Session 2: Burning Man Meets Managing Man:
The BLM and the Energy of American Art
“Multiple use” 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’s response to the “management challenge” posed by the Burning Man Festival, and the Festival’s response to the “bureaucratic challenge” 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 – 9:00 pm(Free & open to the public)
Glenn Miller Ballroom
Interview Event: “Reflections of a former BLM Director”
Bob Abbey
Former Director of BLM
Tim Egan
Author & Writer for TheNew York Times
Thursday, September 13, 2012
8:30 am – 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’s 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, University of ֱ Boulder
Bill Ritter
Former Governor of ֱ
Johanna Wald
Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council
9:45 am – 10:15 amBreak
10:15 am – 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’s sponsorship of the great explorations of the 19thcentury West, the role of science in public policy-making and implementation has occupied center-stage in the region’s 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 – 1:00 pmLunch and Special Address
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior
1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Session 5: Respecting Posterity’s 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 – 2:45 pmBreak
2:45 pm – 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’s 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 University of ֱ Boulder
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm(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 – 12:00 pm
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Roundtable Conversation:
Turning Hindsight into Foresight:
The Past & Future of America’s 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
ֱ 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, BillBarrettCorporation
12:00 pm – 1:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Stadium Club at Folsom Field
Round Table Discussion:
Turning Hindsight into Foresight:
The Past & Future of America’s Public Lands,
Part 2: Next Steps
3:00 pm – 3:30 pmClosing