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 the Student Art Contest inspired by public lands, recommendations for the future of public lands offered by the Student Congress, and a Round Table conversation among leading national public lands figures.

Schedule of Events

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Student Congress Reception

Center for Community Flatirons Room

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

8:00 am – 12:00 pm Student Congress meets with policy makers

Student Congress List of Recommendations to the BLM

10:00 am Open display area
12:30 pm Symposium begins
12:30 pm – 12:45 pm Welcome (Free & open to the public)

Glenn Miller Ballroom

Bruce Benson

University of Colorado President
12:45 pm – 1:30 pm Presentation of Awards for the Statewide Art Contest and Showing of Student-Made Films (Free & open to the public)

Glenn Miller Ballroom

Ceramic Tree Log

Acrylic Painting of Ancient Horse

Scenic Acrylic Painting of Trees and a Lake

Oil Painting of Landscape

The Making of Creating New Media for the Old and New West 2012 from Nicole Poull on Vimeo.

A Letter to the BLM from Clara Boland on Vimeo.

Fracking the Fork from Kelly Brichta on Vimeo.

Burnin’ For a Learnin’ – Noelle DeWitt from Nicole Poull on Vimeo.

Trotting to the Truth – The Horse and Burro Program of the BLM from Don Grusin on Vimeo.

Homeland: A Negotiation of Cultural and Economic Resources from Susie Gunn on Vimeo.

BLM App for Utah (and model for Western States)

1:30 pm – 2:15 pm Native American Perspective (Free & open to the public)

Glenn Miller Ballroom

Walter Echo-hawk

Walter Echo-Hawk

Native American Rights Attorney
2:15 pm – 2:45 pm Break

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 Colorado College

Paul Sutter

Professor of History at the University of Colorado Boulder
4:00 pm – 4:15 pm Break

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 The New 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 Colorado Boulder

Bill Ritter

Former Governor of Colorado

Johanna Wald

Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council
9:45 am – 10:15 am Break

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 19^th century 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 pm Lunch 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 pm Break
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 Colorado 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?