Original article can be found at MSU News
Originally published on October 20, 2016 By Jody Sanford
Charles Wilkinson, an award-winning author, teacher and expert on natural resources law in the American West, will give the second lecture in the Montana State University College of Letters and Science’s 2016 Western Lands and Peoples: Perspectives on the American West Lecture Series on Nov. 7.
Wilkinson’s lecture, “Becoming a Westerner: Montana and Other Cherished Formative Experiences,” is set for 6 p.m. at the Museum of the Rockies’ Hager Auditorium. The talk, which is free and open to the public, will be preceded by a reception at 5:15 p.m. in the museum lobby.
The American West lecture series features experts from around the country discussing the history, literature and culture of the West; issues affecting the wildlife and fisheries of the region; and the West’s geography, geology and resources.
Wilkinson, the Moses Lasky Professor of Law and Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law, has written 14 books on the law, history and society in the American West. Co-founder of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado, he has served on several boards, including the Northern Lights Institute, the Wilderness Society and the Grand Canyon Trust. Over the years, he has taken on many special assignments for Indian tribes, states and the U.S. Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Justice. He served as special counsel to former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt for the drafting of the Presidential Proclamation, signed by President William J. Clinton in September 1996, establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.
Wilkinson has received teaching awards from his students at all three law schools where he has taught, and the Universities of Colorado and Oregon have given him their highest awards for leadership, scholarship and teaching. In its 10-year anniversary issue, “Outside Magazine” named him one of 15 “People to Watch,” calling him “the West’s leading authority on natural resources law.” His awards include the National Wildlife Federation’s National Conservation Award; the Twanat Award, from the Warm Springs Tribal Museum, for dedication to Indian tribes and people; the Grand Canyon Trust’s John Wesley Powell Award for extraordinary vision, passion and commitment to the Colorado Plateau; and the Federal Bar Association’s Lawrence R. Baca Award for Lifetime Achievement in Indian Law.
The Western Lands and Peoples: Perspectives on the American West Lecture Series is co-sponsored by the Burton K. Wheeler Center and is part of the college’s Western Lands and Peoples Initiative, a collection of programs and events highlighting interdisciplinary research within the College of Letters and Science that is focused on the places and peoples of the Western United States and Canada.