The Stegner Center’s 24th annual symposium, to be held March 21 to 22, 2019, will address the timely topic of “Recreation Challenges on Public Lands.” In recent years, outdoor recreation has become a primary use of the public lands, creating conflicts, challenges, and opportunities. A substantial portion of the public domain is managed for recreation in the form of national parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, and the like, drawing millions of visitors annually. The symposium will examine the economic, social, and legal framework for recreation on the public lands, extract lessons from specific recreation problems in the Wasatch Mountains and the Moab area, and identify emerging recreation-related issues.
The Stegner Center will hold an all-day conference on November 9 on “PURPA@40: Renewable Energy Law and Policy in the United States.” Topics to be discussed will include the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) and the rise of U.S. renewable energy policy, PURPA challenges today, emerging trends in U.S. renewable energy law and policy, international perspectives on renewable energy policy, and rooftop solar and the future of the electricity grid. A full list of speakers and additional details can be found online at https://www.law.utah.edu/event/purpa-40-renewable-energy-law-and-policy-in-the-united-states/.
Uma Outka, a Professor of Law at the University of Kansas School of Law, will join the Stegner Center as the 14th Annual Stegner Center Young Scholar November 14 to15, 2018. She will deliver a Young Scholar Lecture at the College of Law on November 14 on “State Energy Law for a Modern Low-Carbon Grid” and a Downtown CLE at Holland & Hart on November 15 on “Recent State Law Developments for Renewable Energy.”
The Stegner Center will host a variety of speakers for their noon-hour Stegner Lecture and Green Bag Series. Speakers include the following:
- “This Land is… Whose Land? Conflicts in Federal Land Management and Why They Matter” panel discussion with Jared Bennett, First Assistant United State Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice; Steve Ellis, Former BLM-Deputy Director; Tyler Green, Solicitor General, Office of the Utah Attorney General; and William Myers III, Holland & Hart (Former Interior Department-Solicitor)
- “The Future of Conservation in America: A Chart for Rough Water” with Jon Jarvis, Former National Park Service Director, and Gary Machlis, Former Science Advisor to National Park Service Director
- “Wildfire: On the Front Lines with Station 8” with Heather Hansen, award-winning reporter and author
- “Energy Sprawl Solutions: Balancing Global Development and Conservation” with Joseph Keisecker, Lead Scientist, The Nature Conservancy’s Conservation Lands Team
- ”Sage Spirit” with Dave Showalter, Conservation Photographer and Author
- ”Breakpoint—Reckoning with America’s Environmental Crises” with Jeremy Jackson, Professor of Oceanography Emeritus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Senior Scientist Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution
- “Sidestepping Impasse in the U.S. Senate” with Jeff Bingaman, Former U.S. Senator, New Mexico, 1983-2013
For program details, including times and locations, see the Stegner Center online calendar at http://law.utah.edu/research/stegner/.