Draining the West? Forum on water issues

On-line forum: "Water in the West"

Our on-line forum, "Water in the West," begins Thursday, May 16 at 8:00/7:00 pm MT/PT. On-line panelists include:

Jeff Fassett was Wyoming's State Engineer for thirteen years and was designated as the chief water resource official responsible for the appropriation, beneficial use and general supervision and regulation of all waters in Wyoming. Fassett currently runs an engineering consulting firm based in Cheyenne, WY that specializes in water rights, water resources engineering and water policy matters.

Fassett's areas of expertise include: Wyoming and Western Water Law; Instream Flow Protection; Tribal and Federal Reserved Water Rights - Quantification, Negotiation, Litigation, and Administration; Safety of Dams; Hydrologic Evaluations; and Water Marketing and Transfers.

David Getches is currently the Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado School of Law. He teaches and writes on water law, public land law, environmental law, and Indian law. As the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (1), Getches strongly advocated water conservation, pressed for groundwater law reform, advanced ideas for better cooperative management and control of the Colorado River, urged expansion of the state's designated wilderness areas, and spoke out on the importance of recreation and wildlife to the state's economy.

Getches is also known as the founding Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF). Getches litigated a number of major cases including: a Northwest Indian fishing rights case (United States v. Washington, also known as "the Boldt decision") and a case on behalf of Eskimos to establish the North Slope Borough, the largest municipality in the world, which includes the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. Other cases dealt with water rights, land claims, federal trust responsibilities, environmental issues, education, and civil rights on behalf of Native American clients throughout the West.

Lynn Tominaga is a water consultant for the Idaho Farm Bureau and North Snake Ground Water District and is the executive director of the Idaho Groundwater Appropriators Association and Idaho Irrigation Pumpers Association. Tominaga also serves as the President for the Idaho Food Producers Board and owns the Idaho Water Policy Group. He is a former Idaho state senator.

Wendy Wilson is an organizational development consultant with the nonprofit group River Network. She was the founding executive director of a large river protection group—Idaho Rivers United—from 1989 until 1999. She was a founding board member of the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition and the Columbia and Snake Rivers Campaign to remove the four lower Snake River dams in Eastern Washington and is an experienced lobbyist and spokesperson for environmental causes.

Howard Neibling helps farmers and city residents make the most efficient use of their water supplies. He is University of Idaho Extension’s water management specialist at Twin Falls, and serves as a UI associate extension professor of agricultural engineering.

Bill Loftus worked as a journalist for Idaho newspapers for nearly two decades reporting on salmon recovery, water management and other environmental issues. He now works as a science writer for the University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

The on-line forum is hosted by Headwatersnews.org