8012

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8012
• Author: Grand Canyon Trust.
• Title: Colorado River Workshop, issues, ideas, and directions ‎(February 26-28, 1996 Phoenix, Arizona)‎ An open forum for discussion of management issues between managers, water users, and stakeholders of the Colorado River basin.
• USFW Year: 1996.
• USFW - Doc Type: 1996.
• Copyright Material: NO

David Getches

Although it is true, as Tom Moody said in his introduc-
tion, that I have had an opportunity to look at
Colorado River matters from a perspective of a state
official, a lawyer for water users, a representative of
Indian Tribes, and as an environmentalist, today I wel-
come you on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the
Grand Canyon Trust. The welcome is as personal as it
is formal; I know about half of the people here from
working together on issues over the years. And I know
that this is truly a group of experts - a diverse and
highly motivated group capable of looking critically
and constructively at the past and future of the
Colorado River.

Meetings about the Colorado River are not unique, or
even rare. We have all been to many. What is unusual
here is the breadth of the issues that we will tackle:

Indian water rights, endangered species, efficient water
use, hydropower, water marketing, science, public par-
ticipation, and institutions for river management. And
what is nearly unique is that we address these issues

DAVID GETCHES
Chair, Board of Trustees, Grand Canyon Trust
and
Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law,
University of Colorado School of Law,
Boulder Colorado

not in the context of some particular problem or pro-
ject, but with an eye to finding a better way to do all
that we do. This is a workshop in the fullest sense of the
word. It is not an educational exercise or a negotiating
session. And it is future oriented: "issues, ideas, and
directions;' as the title of this workshop tells us. So we
are here to work on how to do a better job of resource
management in the Colorado River Basin, not just to
exchange information uncritically or to champion the
cause of a particular interest.

In that spirit, let me share with you my perception of
why we may all feel dissatisfied to some degree with
how resources of the Colorado River Basin are now
managed. I think that the history of resources manage-
ment in the basin has followed three themes:

... We have solved problems piecemeal, one at a time.
... We have made commitments without enough
information.

... We have addressed issues in a spirit of competition
rather than cooperation.

These themes are well-documented in the rich history
of the Colorado River Basin. And they emerge explicit-
ly or implicitly in most of the seven discussion papers
prepared for this workshop. Let me say a few words

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