E-Newsletter

Preserving the Source
An e-newsletter from the Water Resources Archive
at Colorado State University

January 2009
Issue XIV

Join Us for Water Tables 2009

On Saturday, February 21, 2009, the Colorado State University Libraries will once again host Water Tables to benefit the Water Resources Archive. Join us on the CSU campus in Fort Collins to engage in stimulating conversation about the historical side of today's crucial water issues.

This year's theme is "Compact Issues and Conflict Resolution" and the event will focus on interstate river compacts and other methods of resolving water conflicts. The evening begins at 5 p.m. with cocktails and tours of the Water Resources Archive in Morgan Library. A gourmet meal and topic conversations with water experts--table hosts--begins at 7 p.m. in the Lory Student Center.

Water Tables 2009 table hosts and topic discussions are:

Jim Broderick, Director of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District
Topic: Colorado's Fryingpan-Arkansas Project: conflicts past, present and future

Nolan Doesken, Colorado State Climatologist
Topic: Climate variations in Colorado and their role in water conflicts

John Eckhardt, Executive Program Manager for the Imperial Irrigation District
Topic: Compact requirements and third party impacts of the world's largest ag to urban water transfer

David Freeman, CSU Professor
Topic: Twelve years' negotiating for habitat within the confines of the 1923 South Platte Compact

Neil Grigg, CSU Professor
Topic: Pecos River master asks "How will we resolve water conflict in a world with seven billion people?"

John R. Hill, Jr., Lawyer
Topic: Federal reserved rights in Colorado--an historical perspective

Greg Hobbs, Colorado Supreme Court Justice
Topic: Colorado River Compact entitlement--clearing up misconceptions

Dan Keppen, Executive Director of the Family Farm Alliance
Topic: Comparing the conflicts irrigated agriculture faces now compared to those faced historically

Ken Knox, Water Resources Engineer
Topic: Republican River Compact--challenges and opportunities

Jim Lochhead, Water Rights Attorney
Topic: Eighty-five years later: how seven Colorado River states carved out an agreement for sharing the drought

Peggy Montano, Lawyer
Topic: Reopen the Colorado River Compact? Over how many dead bodies?

Ken Neubecker, President of Colorado Trout Unlimited
Topic: Conflicting philosophies/evolving law and management: Colorado water yesterday and today

Peter Nichols, Lawyer
Topic: Alternatives to the permanent dry up of irrigated land for municipal use: the "Super Ditch Company"

John Porter, Former General Manager, Dolores Water Conservancy District
Topic: In the West, when you touch water you touch everything (Wayne Aspinall)

Harris Sherman, Executive Director, and Alex Davis, Assistant Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources
Topic: As Colorado's IBCC and the basin roundtables consider our next 50 years from the water perspective, what can we learn from the past to help us better resolve conflict?

Larry Simpson, Former General Manager of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District
Topic: How water law and management in Colorado has migrated around the world

Tom Trout, Research Leader of the Water Management Research Unit, USDA Agricultural Research Service
Table Topic: Evapotranspiration research in support of resolving interstate water compact conflicts

Dick Wolfe, Colorado State Engineer
Table Topic: The future is not what it used to be--learning from the past how to better manage Colorado's water compacts

Tickets are $125 per person and proceeds will support the Water Resources Archive. Reservations can be made through February 13 online or by calling (970) 491-1833. Reservations will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Get yours now!

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Special Feature: Dr. Albertson Passes Away

Long-time CSU civil engineering professor and co-founder of the Peace Corps Maury Albertson passed away Sunday, January 11, 2009. Dr. Albertson was a significant donor to the Water Resources Archive, having given 210 boxes in the past year alone. Archivist Patty Rettig was awaiting another meeting to gather more documents while Dr. Albertson traveled to Indonesia in November. He returned from this trip and fell ill.

Rettig and assistants have been sorting through and organizing Dr. Albertson's materials for about a year and a half. Significant documentation of classes he taught, conferences he organized, and projects he oversaw exists in the collection. Spanning the late 1940s through the 1990s, the collection reveals Maury's passions for education and international development. Read more about Dr. Albertson in the CSU news.

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Archive Update: New Finding Aid

One new finding aid has been recently posted online. Describing the Papers of Harvey Johnson, the finding aid lists the contents of this one-box collection. Though small, the collection contains important documentation of Johnson's service to Fort Collins and on several water boards in the area, most significantly that of the Water Supply and Storage Company.

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Looking Forward: New Exhibits

Beginning January 21, 2009, a new exhibit will be on display in the Archives and Special Collections department of CSU's Morgan Library. "Headlines of History: Exploring the Evolution from Conflicts to Compacts" will coincide with Water Tables and build on its theme.

Prior to the Colorado River Compact, and the numerous compacts that followed, one state suing another was the norm. In order to preserve rights to water in the arid west, states never hesitated in going to war with one another via Supreme Court trials. During the exhaustive experience of arguing for ownership of Colorado's water in Wyoming vs. Colorado, attorneys and the governor started an alternative path, even before the final decision was handed down in 1922. This path would lead to compacts not conflict as water diplomacy not war became the order of the day. "Headlines of History" will exhibit documents of the court case and show the evolution from conflicts and trials to water diplomacy and compacts.

Following this exhibit will be one in March focusing on the man who conceived the Colorado River Compact, Delph Carpenter, and his family. Watch for more details on this exhibit to come soon.

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Virtual Visit: A Visual Tour of Water Tables 2008

Last year's Water Tables attracted nearly 200 respected guests from across the state and raised more than $30,000 for the Water Resources Archive. Take a look at the photos from last year to see what Water Tables is all about.

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This quarterly electronic newsletter is designed to keep you informed on the developments with the Water Resources Archive. If you would prefer not to receive further updates, or if you know someone else who would like to receive this, just drop a line to us at development@library.colostate.edu.

This e-newsletter is created by Patty Rettig and Jane Barber.