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October 16th 2006 • Printer version  October 26-27
Northwest Tribal Water Rights Conference
Top Interior Department official Michael Bogert speaks on "Sovereignty, Certainty,
and Opportunity"
Policy makers, tribal leaders and legal scholars will grapple with contentious issues swirling around the use of negotiated settlements to resolve tribal water rights disputes in the Northwest at this two-day event at the University of Oregon School of Law, 1515 Agate Street in Eugene. On Thursday, October 26, panelists confront
the growing global crisis of a dwindling water supply from the
perspective of indigenous peoples.
On Friday, October 27, panelists discuss alternative dispute resolution approaches and other legal strategies that can be used to resolve water disputes.
The conference opens at 8 a.m. on both days.
Cost is $325 and includes CLE credits and lunches UO faculty, staff and students are admitted free with pre-registration. (lunch not included)
For more information on the conference and Continuing Legal Education credits,
call
Jill Forcier at 541-346-3845 or Email enr@uoregon.edu.
ABOUT THE EVENT
 Michael Bogert, counselor to Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne,
will deliver a keynote address at noon on Friday.
He will discuss
Sovereignty, Certainty and Opportunity: Secretary Kempthornes
Vision for Tribal Water
Rights Settlements in the West.
Disputes over
the allocation of water blanket the western landscape. In various
basins, the Secretary of the Interior has initiated a process for
negotiated settlement. These negotiated settlements have enormous
implications for tribal people, water users, fish stocks, hydropower
generation, and environmental quality.
Assistant Professor Adell Amos, director of the law school's Environmental and
Natural Resources Law
Program said the Interior Department plays a
significant role in the initiation, structure, and ultimate resolution
of negotiated settlements.
"We are
thrilled to to hear from one of the new secretarys
leading advisors and connect Washington, D.C. decision makers with
local leaders in the Northwest, Amos said.
The 2006 conference is sponsored by the Appropriate Dispute Resolution
Center and the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program at the law school
in conjunction with the conference
founder, the Center for Water Advocacy.
The Center for Water Advocacy
is a public interest policy and legal advocacy organization dedicated
to protecting water resources in the Northwest United States.
Harold Shepherd, the centers executive director, said tribal water
rights remain one of the last vestiges for protecting water and
riparian and other resources on tribal and federal
lands.
"Settlement agreements provide the critical mechanism for
protecting water resources and fish habitat in these areas, Shepherd said.
The first day of the conference will focus on the global significance
of the increasing pressure on dwindling water resources, the
commodification of water on an international scale and how livestock
grazing, logging, mining, water diversions, and other resource
extraction issues affect water availability on private lands. Now in its third year, The Northwest Tribal
Water Rights Conference was the first gathering to focus on these
issues in the region. It brings representatives from 14 tribes in
Oregon, Washington, and Idaho; government agencies; and the legal
community to discuss ideas, share strategies, and develop solutions.
Participants include two tribal consortia groups, five non-profits
focusing on water issues, the Oregon Department of Justice, the Oregon
Senate, faculty and students from two Oregon Universities, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
and 15 law firms in the Pacific Northwest.
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