Desert Water: Shaping our Future

Sustainable Landscapes, a student run organization, continues to shape the dialogue of sustainable design and planning with the 5th annual conference, Desert Water: Shaping Our Future. Born in the fifth year of ongoing drought, and corresponding with the fifth anniversary of the conference, the theme dealt with the increasing need to understand the implications of society's values and actions regarding water in the West. The conference addressed issues related to water including ethics, restoration, policy, use and conservation, regional planning, and regenerative design. The conference included keynote speakers, concurrent sessions, and lunch.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Robert L France, Associate Professor of Landscape Ecology Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard Design School

Robert France is Associate Professor of Landscape Ecology at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he began teaching in the Fall of 1997. He teaches courses focusing on the influences of landscape processes and development on aquatic systems, and on how the design of these systems can be used to mitigate watershed development pressures. Additionally, he teaches courses on the ecopsycology of human-nature relationships. He is founder of the firm W.D.N.R.G. Limnetics, which specializes in the restoration of degraded waterways. France has published more that 100 papers on the ecology and conservation biology of organisms from bacteria and algae to birds and whales, on research topics from environmental pollution to theoretical biodiversity, and in locations ranging from the High Arctic to the tropics. He received a BSc from the University of Manitoba, the MSc from the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, and a PhD from the University of Toronto. He has conducted research and taught at McGill University. France is a recently appointed series editor for Lewis/CRC Press on the topic "Integrative Studies in Water Management and Land Development and is editor of the book Handbook of Water Sensitive Planning and Design. Among the other books Dr. France has authored are: Wetland Design: Principles and Practices for Landscape Architects and Land-use Planners, Reflecting Water: Thoreau on Water, and Deep Immersion: The Experience of Water.

Joan M. Safford, Professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Returning to teaching after four years as the Director of the John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies, Joan has helped build closer ties between the Lyle Center and the Department, and was instrumental in helping the interdisciplinary faculty at Lyle Center obtain approval for a new Master of Science in Regenerative Studies. She teaches design in both the graduate and undergraduate programs, along with large scale regional and cosystem-based planning. Her professional interests revolve around issues of

sustainable and regenerative design with an on the integration of Geographic Information Systems in analysis, modelling, and measuring change. Issues of reforestation and habitat restoration are also key interests. She received her BS in Forest Management from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and her MLA from Cal Poly Pomona.

Thomas Cathcart, Ph.D. - Professor; Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Mississippi State University

Thomas Cathcart is the Co-Director of the Center for Sustainable Design at Mississippi State University. He holds a M.S. in Ecology from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Maryland. His interests include environmental and aquacultural engineering, water quality, constructed wetlands, Best Management Practices for stormwater and erosion management, restoration of natural systems, sustainable design and regenerative approaches, coastal engineering for beach erosion prevention, and wetlands mitigation.

Alan Matheson - Director, Utah Water project for Trout Unlimited

(click on speaker for presentation)

Alan opened the Utah office of the Western Water Project in July 2001. Prior to joining TU, he practiced water and environmental law as a partner in a private law firm, worked as Senior Attorney and Environmental Policy Advisor for Arizona Public Service Co., and served as a law clerk for a federal judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In his pre-law life, Alan was Special Projects Director for the Democratic Policy

Commission in Washington, DC, where he drafted the foreign policy and environment sections of the Commission's report.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

Workshop: Water Policy

Jerry Olds - P.E.State Engineer/Director Utah Division of Water Rights

(click on speaker for presentation)

Jerry D. Olds serves as State Engineer and Director of Utah Division of Water Rights in Salt Lake City, Utah. He began working for the Division of Water Rights in 1972. He holds a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering from Utah State University. Mr. Olds was appointed State Engineer in February 2002. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Utah. To highlight a few of Jerry’s accomplishments during his career with the Division of Water Rights; he assisted with the automating of Utah’s water rights records, the negotiations of federal and Indian reserved water rights claims, and numerous water resource investigations statewide. Prior to his appointment as State Engineer he served as an Assistant State Engineer.

Joanna Endter-Wada -Director of Natural Resource & Environmental Policy Program,

Associate Professor Dept. of Environment & Society, College of Natural Resources

Workshop: Waterwise Landscapes

Kelly Kopp - Assistant Professor; Utah State UniversityExtension Water Conservation Specialist: State of Utah(click on speaker for presentation)

Ms. Kopp is interested in water conservation aspects of landscape management, particularly turfgrass management. She is also interested in nutrient cycling in the soil/plant environment.

Dave Anderson - Utah Botanical Center Project Director, Landscape Architect

Mr. Anderson serves as project director for Utah State University's Utah Botanical Center. The 100-acre project, which is under construction in Kaysville, Utah, will serve as a model for resource conservation in the Intermountain West. Mr. Anderson holds a BS degree in horticulture from Brigham Young University and a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture from Utah State University. He is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Environment and Society at USU and teaches adjunct courses in USU's Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. He is a member of the American Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta, American Planning Association, U.S. Green Building Council, the National Association for Interpretation and sits on the newly formed Sustainability Council at Utah State University.

Workshop: On-Site Wastewater Treatment

Judith L. Sims, Research Associate Professor,Utah Water Research Laboratory(click on speaker for presentation)

Utah State University. Director, Utah On-Site Wastewater Treatment Training Program

WORKSHOP: Water Conservation in the Home

Leona K. Hawks, Utah House Project Director (click on speaker for presentation)

WORKSHOP: Stream Channel Restoration

Tyler Allred, Lead Designer, Allred Restoration Inc. Provo River Restoration Project

Jack C. Schmidt, Associate Professor, Department of Aquatic, Watershed, and Earth Resources Utah State University

Thanks to all the volunteers who made the 2004 conference possible!

Planning Committee

Conference Chairs - Shawn Conner, Lori Porecca

Marketing Coordinator – Susan Buffler

Registration Coordinator – David Rondina

Speaker Coordinator – Diana Glenn, Jesse Allen

Fundraising Coordinator – Scott Bird

Web Site Coordinator – Chad Kennedy

The Sustainable Landscapes Conference has traditionally been planned, organized, and produced by students from the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department. This year, however, the planning committee was fortunate to have the collaboration of Dianna Glenn, an officer from the group Student Organization for Society and Natural Resources (SOSNR). This group of student activists shares many of the same goals as Sustainable Landscapes and we welcome their collaboration. Please visit their website at http://www.cnr.usu.edu/sosnr