Water users of the Platte River Basin have long struggled to share this scarce commodity in the arid high plains, ultimately organizing collectively owned and managed water systems, allocating water along extensive stream systems, and integrating newer groundwater with existing surface-water uses. In 1973, the Endangered Species Act brought a new challenge: incorporating the habitat needs of four species-the whooping crane, piping plover, least tern, and pallid sturgeon-into its water-management agenda. Implementing the Endangered Species Act on the Platte Basin Water Commons tells of the negotiations among the U.S. Department of the Interior, the environmental community, and the states of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska that took place from the mid-1970s to 2006. Ambitious talks among rival water users, environmentalists, state authorities, and the Department of the Interior finally resulted in the Platte River Habitat Recovery Program. Documenting how organizational interests found remedies within the conditions set by the Endangered Species Act, describing how these interests addressed habitat restoration, and advancing sociological propositions under which water providers transcended self-interest and produced an agreement benefiting the environment, this book details the messy process that took place over more than thirty years. Presenting important implications for the future of water management in arid and semi-arid environments, this book will be of interest to anyone involved in water management, as well as academics interested in the social organization of common property.

Water users of the Platte River Basin have long struggled to share this scarce commodity in the arid high plains, ultimately organizing collectively owned and managed water systems, allocating water along extensive stream systems, and integrating newer groundwater with existing surface-water uses. In 1973, the Endangered Species Act brought a new challenge: incorporating the habitat needs of four species-the whooping crane, piping plover, least tern, and pallid sturgeon-into its water-management agenda. Implementing the Endangered Species Act on the Platte Basin Water Commons tells of the negotiations among the U.S. Department of the Interior, the environmental community, and the states of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska that took place from the mid-1970s to 2006. Ambitious talks among rival water users, environmentalists, state authorities, and the Department of the Interior finally resulted in the Platte River Habitat Recovery Program. Documenting how organizational interests found remedies within the conditions set by the Endangered Species Act, describing how these interests addressed habitat restoration, and advancing sociological propositions under which water providers transcended self-interest and produced an agreement benefiting the environment, this book details the messy process that took place over more than thirty years. Presenting important implications for the future of water management in arid and semi-arid environments, this book will be of interest to anyone involved in water management, as well as academics interested in the social organization of common property.

The Man Who Thought He Owned Water is author Tershia d’Elgin’s fresh take on the gravest challenge of our time—how to support urbanization without killing ourselves in the process. The gritty story of her family’s experience with water rights on its Colorado farm provides essential background about American farms, food, and water administration in the West in the context of growing cities and climate change. Enchanting and informative, The Man Who Thought He Owned Water is an appeal for urban-rural cooperation over water and resiliency. When her father bought his farm—Big Bend Station—he also bought the ample water rights associated with the land and the South Platte River, confident that he had secured the necessary resources for a successful endeavor. Yet water immediately proved fickle, hard to defend, and sometimes dangerous. Eventually those rights were curtailed without compensation. Through her family’s story, d’Elgin dramatically frames the personal-scale implications of water competition, revealing how water deals, infrastructure, transport, and management create economic growth but also sever human connections to Earth’s most vital resource. She shows how water flows to cities at the expense of American-grown food, as rural land turns to desert, wildlife starves, the environment degrades, and climate change intensifies. Depicting deep love, obsession, and breathtaking landscape, The Man Who Thought He Owned Water is an impassioned call to rebalance our relationship with water. It will be of great interest to anyone seeking to understand the complex forces affecting water resources, food supply, food security, and biodiversity in America.

This sweeping study traces the development of water policy in the United States from the 19th century to the present day, exploring the role of legislation in appropriating access to water to the American people. Three factors influence the development of water policy and politics in the United States: the availability of water, the manner in which people use the commodity to its maximum economic benefit, and governmental control. This book is a one-stop resource for understanding the scope of water issues in America, from governing doctrine and legislation, to Native American water rights, to water protection and pollution, and to the mitigation of natural and manmade disasters. Distinguished author and noted scholar John R. Burch Jr. reviews the conflicts among state, federal, and international agencies in dealing with water supply and points to competing legal rulings and laws as undermining the creation of a cohesive policy for all. Through an analysis of key documents, Burch examines the recent calamities befalling the American water system—including droughts, oil spills, and natural disasters—and considers the future of water distribution to the American people. Organized into six parts, sections include doctrines and rights, waters of the West, border regions water management and flood control, environmental issues, and water supply and safety.

Written by Stephen Grace, the companion book to The Great Divide, a film by Havey Productions, is a sweeping, magnificently illustrated story of Colorado water from the region’s first inhabitants to the incoming settlers and developers to modern environmentalists. Times and places are covered from the archaeological remains of ancient Native American reservoirs, the first and longest operating water right in Colorado, important innovations in irrigated agriculture, the stunning dams that create reservoirs for storage and recreation, and the natural beauty of Colorado’s wild places. The book, based on the film, will be a natural source for viewers who seek additional knowledge beyond the film, but it will also stand alone for readers who desire a basic but engaging entrance into the world of Colorado water. A vast array of breathtaking photographs, both archival and contemporary serve as attractive illustrations and a supplemental way to tell the story, along with descriptive captions.

"A collection of essays on prairie wildlife and ecology"--

Water Policy and Planning in a Variable and Changing Climate addresses the current challenges facing western water planners and policy makers in the United States and considers strategies for managing water resources and related risks in the future. Written by highly-regarded experts in the industry, the book offers a wealth of experience, and explains the physical, socioeconomic, and institutional context for western water resource management. The authors discuss the complexities of water policy, describe the framework for water policy and planning, and identify many of the issues surrounding the subject. A provocative examination of policy issues surrounding western water resources, this book: Considers the implications of natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change for the region’s water resources, and explains limitations on the predictability of local-scale changes Stresses linkages between climate patterns and weather events, and related hydrologic impacts Describes the environmental consequences of historical water system development and the challenges that climate change poses for protection of aquatic ecosystems Examines coordination of drought management by local, state and national government agencies Includes insights on planning for climate change adaptation from case studies across the western United States Discusses the challenges and opportunities in water/energy/land system management, and its prospects for developing climate change response strategies Presents evidence of changes in water scarcity and flooding potential in the region and identifies a set of adaptation strategies to support the long-term sustainability of irrigated agriculture and urban communities Draws upon Colorado’s experience in defining rights for surface and tributary groundwater use to explain potential conflicts and challenges in establishing fair and effective coordination of water rights for these resources Assesses the role of policy in driving flood losses Explores policy approaches for achieving equitable and environmentally responsible planning outcomes despite multiple sources of uncertainty Water Policy and Planning in a Variable and Changing Climate describes patterns of water availability, existing policy problems and the potential impacts of climate change in the western United States, and functions as a practical reference for the student or professional invested in water policy and management.

The term collaboration is widely used but not clearly understood or operationalized. However, collaboration is playing an increasingly important role between and across public, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors. Collaboration has become a hallmark in both intragovernmental and intergovernmental relationships. As collaboration scholarship rapidly emerges, it diverges into several directions, resulting in confusion about what collaboration is and what it can be used to accomplish. This book provides much needed insight into existing ideas and theories of collaboration, advancing a revised theoretical model and accompanying typologies that further our understanding of collaborative processes within the public sector. Organized into three parts, each chapter presents a different theoretical approach to public problems, valuing the collective insights that result from honoring many individual perspectives. Case studies in collaboration, split across three levels of government, offer additional perspectives on unanswered questions in the literature. Contributions are made by authors from a variety of backgrounds, including an attorney, a career educator, a federal executive, a human resource administrator, a police officer, a self-employed entrepreneur, as well as scholars of public administration and public policy. Drawing upon the individual experiences offered by these perspectives, the book emphasizes the commonalities of collaboration. It is from this common ground, the shared experiences forged among seemingly disparate interactions that advances in collaboration theory arise. Advancing Collaboration Theory offers a unique compilation of collaborative models and typologies that enhance the existing understanding of public sector collaboration.

Governance of global water resources presents one of the most confounding challenges in contemporary natural resource governance. With considerable government, citizen and financial donor attention devoted to a range of international, transnational and domestic laws and policies aimed at protecting, managing and sustainably using fresh and coastal marine water resources, this book proposes that sustainable water outcomes require a ‘trans-jurisdictional’ approach to water governance. Focusing on the concept of trans-jurisdictional water governance the book diagnoses barriers and identifies pathways to coherent and coordinated institutional arrangements between and across different bodies of laws at local, national, regional and international levels. It includes case studies from the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States and Southeast Asia. Leading specialists offer insights into the pretence and the promise of trans-jurisdictional water governance and provide readers, including students, practitioners, policy-makers and academics, with a basis for better analysing, articulating and synthesising standards of good trans-jurisdictional water governance both in theory and in practice.

Western Water A to Z is the first ever field guide to Western water. Reinventing this twentieth-century genre for a twenty-first-century audience, Robert R. Crifasi answers questions about rivers, water projects, the culture of water, the ecosystems water projects have created or destroyed, and the reliance of cities, farms, and industries on this critical resource. Organized as a collection of terms, the book addresses the most salient water issues and provides helpful background information regarding their origins and implications. Photographs serve a vital role in the cultural dialogue on water and stand as an equal partner to the text. Each subject is covered in about one page and is accompanied by one or two striking images from famous photographers like Margaret Bourke-White, Carleton E. Watkins, Arthur Rothstein, William Henry Jackson, and Dorothea Lang as well as Crifasi’s own work. Water often finds itself at the center of our cultural discourse in art, cinema, and literature, which play essential roles in shaping our understanding and experience of Western water. Crifasi also engages personalities that are nearly synonymous with Western water—John Wesley Powell, Elwood Mead, and Floyd Dominy, among others—to show how their lives intertwined with and often influenced the course of water development across the region. Travelers, adventurers, students, and anyone interested in water will find Western Water A to Z a handy and entertaining reference guide.