Law Commons^™

Beyond All Drought: Improving Urban Water Conservation In The West Through Integrative Water And Land Use Policy, Benjamin Longbottom, Alexandria Gordon

Natural Resources Journal

Although droughts have long plagued the western United States, rapid population growth and climate change are making the American West increasingly water insecure. In some western states, including Arizona, Colorado, and California, decisionmakers are responding to these changes with innovative water conservation-focused land use policies. In other states, however, water and land use policies are lagging decades behind. Improving water security in western cities is an enormous task, requiring extensive social, legal, and policy reform. Additional federal funding for western water security initiatives could do much to drive that reform, but state and local governments should also play a leading …

Borders And Water Conflicts: Mitigating Conflicts With Love And Cooperation, Peter J. Longo, Anthony B. Schutz, James M. Scott

Natural Resources Journal

Borders are political constructs, not constructs derived from laws of nature. Borders carry more potential for conflict than any other matter in political relations. In international relations, wars have been fought over borders and territory. But, territory does not necessarily entail a dispute about the geographic location of a border. Trans-boundary natural resources disputes emerge because the laws of nature do not bend to this peculiar human construct. As much can be seen in international and intra-state water conflicts, where political boundaries provide individuals with a tribal identity that eclipses the power of natural resources to tie people together in …

The Plight Of Western Rivers, W. Howard Brandenburg

Natural Resources Journal

My oil paintings weave a narrative about the human species. I am interested in the space where our proliferation infringes upon ecosystem function. I am fascinated in what makes our species so successful and what that success means for the balance of nature. My paintings often target concepts around environmental transformations attributed to human activities and economies. Visual art provides me the latitude and freedom to explore and communicate these concepts, using a visual language which conveys disparate perspectives; universally and individualistically.

This duality is what I strive for in my work; producing an image that not only speaks a …

Southwestern Acequia Systems And Communities; Nurturing A Culture Of Place, Eric Romero

Natural Resources Journal

El Aqua es La Vida” (Water is Life) is a ubiquitous bumper sticker on trucks, mini vans and tractors in New Mexico, Colorado and the greater southwest. Besides a succinct, pithy statement for natural resource management, the maxim references a land ethic that is particularly evidenced in acequia communities. Put simply, acequias are human-constructed hydrological systems that deliver water to agricultural fields. These community-governed irrigation systems are common in southwestern states– particularly northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. However, the English connotation of ‘irrigation ditch” fails to reflect the different levels of meaning associated with these important water channels. A …

Fighting The Tragedy Of The Commons (Poem), Olivia Romo

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Integrating The Law Of The Rio Chama Through Institutional Ontologies Of The Middle Rio Grande Basin, Colin Mckenzie

Natural Resources Journal

The Law of the River is paradigmatically the legal and policy framework for river basin governance in the largely arid Western United Sates. In parsing this notoriously arcane body of law, complexity theory and jurisprudence, or the philosophy of law, are useful tools. This work develops and applies a conceptual model of the Middle Rio Grande basin as a social–ecological system in an attempt to improve understanding, transparency, and a sense of meaning of the so-called Law of the River. This project confronts the legal ecology of the “Great River” and its principle middle valley tributary, northern New Mexico’s Rio …