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Registration fees before March 10, $50-150. Registration fees after March 10, $75-175.

S.J. Quinney College of Law Moot Courtroom (Level 6)
The Stegner Center’s 22nd Annual Symposium, to be held March 23 to 24, 2017, will focus on “Water in the West: Untapped Solutions.” The symposium will address how the twin drivers of climate disruption and demographic change are likely to impact water availability in the West over the next 50 years.

With these challenges as a backdrop, the Stegner Center’s solution-oriented symposium will focus on practical solutions to problems. Specifically, the Symposium will address four sets of issues: changing law—legal innovations to address these issues; changing science and the role of technology in improving data-driven water resource planning and management; changing infrastructure and new approaches like recycling wastewater; and changing behaviors—creating incentives that bring about the changes needed to respond to a dynamic world. The symposium will be interdisciplinary in nature and include speakers from the physical, biological and social sciences, academia, government, industry, public interest organizations, and the legal profession.

Click here for the Symposium Brochure »

9 hours Utah CLE: Thursday 6 hours, Friday 3 hours.

Symposium Agenda

Thursday, March 23, 2017

8:00 a.m. – Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 a.m. – Welcome and Introductions

9:15 a.m. – Western Water 1850 to 2050: From Bounty and Battles, to Scarcity and Sharing
Brad Udall, Colorado Water Institute, Colorado State University

10:00 a.m. – Break

10:30 a.m.  – Changing Rules
Steven Clyde, ClydeSnow Attorneys at Law
Robin Kundis Craig, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
Heather Whiteman Runs Him, Native American Rights Fund

12:00 p.m. – Lunch (in lobby)

1:00 p.m. – Losing the Grand Canyon
Kevin Fedarko, author of The Emerald Mile

2:00 p.m. – Changing Knowledge and Science – Climate Change, Water and the West
Jonathan (Peck) Overpeck, Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona

Techniques to Monitor and Manage Groundwater: Can Satellites Make a Hidden Resource Visible?
Alexandra (Sasha) Richey, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University

3:30 p.m. – Break

4:00 p.m. – Keynote: Securing Our Water Resources in the 21st Century Finding a New Equilibrium
Pat Mulroy, Climate Adaptation and Environmental Policy, Brookings Institution; William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

5:00 p.m. – Conclude

Friday, March 24, 2017

8:30 a.m. – Continental Breakfast

9:00 a.m. – Changing Infrastructure
Laura Briefer, Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities
Steven Burian, University of Utah Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Greg Woodside, Orange County Water District

10:15 a.m. – Break

10:45 a.m. – Changing Behavior
Thomas C. Brower III, Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council
Mark D. Reynolds, California Migratory Bird Program, The Nature Conservancy
Carol M. Werner, Psychology Department, University of Utah

12:00 p.m. – Water is Not for Fighting Over: How Myths of Crisis and Conflict Get in the Way of Solving the West’s Water Problems
John Fleck, University of New Mexico Department of Economics; Director, University of New Mexico Water Resources Program

12:45 p.m.- Conclude

Principal Funding:

Harold Burton Foundation
Cultural Vision Fund

The Wallace Stegner Center’s annual symposium brings together legal scholars, thinkers, and practitioners from around the world to tackle pressing environmental issues. Recent symposia have focused on wildlife conservation, alternative energy, global climate change, and sustainability.

For questions about this event contact Kris (801) 585-3440.

Free parking is available at the Rice-Eccles Stadium. We encourage you to use public transportation to our events. Take TRAX University line to the Stadium stop and walk a half block north. For other public transit options use UTA’s Trip Planner. The law school is on the Red Route for the University’s free campus shuttles (College of Law stop).