Tom Bie is the founder, publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of The Drake, a three-times-a-year flyfishing magazine. He started the magazine in 1998 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and grew it from a thirty-two-page newsprint rag to a respected, 116-page glossy, now featuring writers such as David James Duncan, Ian Frazier, Ted Leeson, and Tom McGuane. Prior to taking on The Drake full-time, Tom served in numerous editorial positions, including as Editor-in-Chief of Powder Magazine for three years; Editorial Director of Bike, Climbing, Canoe and Kayak, and Powder magazines; and as Senior Editor of Skiing magazine. He also served as an outdoor columnist and sports editor for the Jackson Hole Guide for six years, while working as a flyfishing guide on Wyoming’s Snake River. He is a 1991 journalism graduate of Oregon State University.
Ruth Wright spent fourteen years in the Colorado State Legislature, serving six years as House Minority Leader. Mrs. Wright also spent six years on the Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee and was a leading advocate for clean water legislation. She was a member of the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Board of Trustees from 1993 to 1999 and chaired the Board of Trustees from 1998 to 1999. Ruth was instrumental in launching the GOCO legacy grant program that was critical in helping fund improvements along the South Platte River. She has been an active member of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Board since 1994.
Ruth received her Ph.D. cum laude from Marquette University and spent several years working in Heidelberg, Germany, before joining Ken in Saudi Arabia. While raising two daughters, she continued her education, receiving her J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law. She and Ken recently received the President’s Award from the Colorado Foundation for Water Education.
Ruth’s interests include scuba diving, photography, archeaology and travel. Her love for rivers led her to participate in a 1,300-mile raft trip down the Danube River and travel from one end of the Nile to the other. Diving and underwater photography took her to Micronesia, Truk Lagoon, Ponape, Cozumel, Bonaire and the Red Sea. Her photographic talents have been applied to create Machu Picchu calenders, and The Machu Picchu Guidebook which was published in 2001.
From 1991 to the present, Ms. Wells has served as General Counsel to the Denver Board of Water Commissioners. In that capacity, she is responsible for providing all legal services—including negotiations for and defense of contracts, litigation of torts, attending to legal personnel matters, and conducting legal work pertaining to environmental and water rights issues—for Colorado’s largest water utility. She is also involved at a policy level in many issues, including issues like public lands, endangered species, protection of water rights, intergovernmental relations, and employment law. From 1983 to 1991, Ms. Wells served as the Deputy City Attorney and then City Attorney for the City and County of Denver. She was a staff attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund from 1980 to 1983.
Ms. Wells received her B.S. from Auburn University in 1969, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979. She was a member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board from 1995 to 2001, serving as chair from 1997 to 1998. She currently serves as a member and vice-chair of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission.
David was a founding partner of Newman and Associates, a Denver-based NASD broker-dealer that for more than twenty-five years was a nationwide leader in tax-exempt investment banking for multi-family affordable housing. He retired as CEO and President of the successor firms GMAC CH Capital Corporation, in 2006. Now, David is actively involved in conservation finance as a volunteer and board member for the Eagle Valley Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy (Colorado). In his free time, he snowshoes, hikes, skis, road bikes, and fly-fishes. He and his wife Jody have two daughters. He holds a B.S. in mathematics from Colorado College, and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.
One of the founders of Hydrosphere (now part of AMEC Earth & Environmental), Lee Rozaklis has over 30 years’ experience in water resources planning and management, with recognized expertise in hydrologic analysis, modeling of water supply systems, water rights engineering, economic and policy analysis, public involvement, and demand management. He holds an MS in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University and a BS in Environmental Biology from the University of Colorado. Much of Mr. Rozaklis’ experience involves analyses of water resources systems in complex physical and institutional settings.
Mr. Rozaklis was a principal co-investigator in a study of the vulnerability of the City of Boulder’s water supply system to potential climate change. This study involved the downscaled application of output from a suite of global climate models, portraying a range of potential future climate regimes upon the hydrology, water demands, and water rights affecting the Boulder Creek basin and the Colorado-Big Thompson and Windy Gap projects. Mr. Rozaklis provides a wide range of other services to the City of Boulder regarding water rights engineering, water supply system planning, instream flow program development, water demand forecasting, and water conservation.
He has also served as project manager and key technical analyst in several major water management and municipal water supply studies in Colorado, including the Upper Colorado River Basin Study, the Metropolitan Water Supply Investigation, and the Denver Basin and South Platte River Basin Technical Study. The latter study quantified the relationships between population growth, water supply options, Denver Basin groundwater pumping, transbasin diversions, and streamflow impacts to the South Platte River. It formed the analytical basis for Colorado’s plan for addressing the impacts of new, water-related activities on critical habitats for Platte River endangered species.
Peter Nichols is a lawyer practicing water, environmental, conservation, and related law. Mr. Nichols served as the first Executive Director of the Colorado Water Trust.
He is the principal co-author of several books, including Water Rights Handbook for Colorado Conservation Professionals and Acquiring, Using and Protecting Water in Colorado. He has also been published in many scholarly legal journals and other periodicals, including the University of Denver Water law Review. In addition to writing, he is a frequent presenter on water and conservation issues. In his practice, Mr. Nichols serves as special assistant attorney general to Colorado and New Mexico and represents western water users and in litigation involving water transfers under the Clean Water Act. See, e.g., Miccosukee Tribe of Indians v. So. Florida Water Mgmt. Dist., 541 U.S. 95 (2004). Mr. Nichols is a frequent speaker on this topic.
A former legislative staffer, he has been active in the local and state political scenes. He has served on numerous governmental panels, including the Water Quality Control Commission from 1993 to 1999 (chair 1997-1998), the Garfield County Planning and Zoning Commission, and Colorado Governor Roy Romer’s “Smart Growth” and “Environment 2000” projects. Mr. Nichols is also former President of the Colorado Water Congress Board of Directors. Mr. Nichols earned a JD from the University of Colorado Law School; he also holds an MPA from CU and a BA from The Colorado College. Prior to practicing law, he was an international mountaineering guide.
Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Taylor Hawes graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1991 with a B.A. in political science. She received her Juris Doctorate degree from the Vermont Law School in 1997.
Currently, Ms. Hawes serves as the Colorado River Program Director for The Nature Conservancy. The Program’s goal is to conserve the freshwater biodiversity of the Colorado River Basin, encompassing parts of seven states and Mexico, while also meeting human demands for water. Her responsibilities include coordinating freshwater conservation efforts across the Colorado River basin for The Nature Conservancy, synthesizing priority strategies, promoting the vision to key donors and partners, and reaching out to key stakeholders (internal and external) who are critical to conservation success across the Colorado River Basin.
Ms. Hawes previously held the position of Associate Counsel to the Colorado River Water Conservation District in Glenwood Springs. Her responsibilities there included working on water quality, water policy, environmental permitting, and water rights litigation. Prior to her work at the River District, she served as Co-Director of Northwest Colorado Council of Governments’ Water Quality and Quantity Committee (“QQ”) from 1997 to 2004. Ms. Hawes also managed the Upper Colorado River Project (“UPCO”), which was a six-year study and solutions-oriented project in Summit and Grand Counties to address impacts associated with diversions to the Front Range from the West Slope. She served as a consultant to various towns and counties on land use and water related issues from 1998 to 2004 and acted as town attorney for Montezuma in Summit County, Colorado.
In addition to serving on the Board of the Colorado Water Trust, Ms. Hawes serves on the Boards of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education and the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training.
David Getches is Dean of the University of Colorado School of Law. Dean Getches is a graduate of Occidental College and the University of Southern California Law School. In addition to serving as Dean of CU Law, he teaches and writes on water law, public land law, environmental law, and Indian law. He has authored or co-authored several books including: Water Law in a Nutshell; Searching Out the Headwaters: Change and Rediscovery in Western Water Law and Policy; Controlling Water Use: The Unfinished Business of Water Quality Control; Water Resource Management; and Federal Indian Law. He has written many articles and book chapters that appear in diverse scholarly and popular sources, including recent articles calling for reform of Colorado River governance.
From 1983-1987, Dean Getches served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources under then-Governor Richard D. Lamm. While serving in that capacity, he strongly advocated water conservation, pressed for groundwater law reform, advanced ideas for better cooperative management and control of the Colorado River, urged expansion of the state’s designated wilderness areas, and spoke out on the importance of recreation and wildlife to the state’s economy. Dean Getches was also the founding Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund; he developed the staff, funding, and program of this national nonprofit Indian-interest law firm.
In addition to serving as a Board member of the Colorado Water Trust, Dean Getches chairs the Board of Trustees of the Grand Canyon Trust and is a member of the Governing Board of the Wilderness Society, the Board of Directors of Defenders of Wildlife, and the Board of Trustees of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. He is on Advisory Boards for the CU Natural Resources Law Center, American Rivers, and the Trust for Public Land. In the past, he served on the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Colorado River Salinity Control Forum, the Colorado Groundwater Commission, the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board, the Rocky Flats Environmental Monitoring Council, and the Board of Directors of the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies.
David Harrison is a practicing water resources lawyer in Boulder, Colorado, with the firm of Moses, Wittemyer, Harrison and Woodruff, P.C. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado, holding degrees in law and Civil Engineering, Hydraulics. He has co-authored numerous professional articles on water resource matters focusing principally on ground water surface water issues, and instream flow and ecosystem management matters.
Mr. Harrison also works as a consultant to The Nature Conservancy in the capacity of senior advisor to the Global Freshwater Team, formerly the Freshwater Initiative, of which he was one of the co-founders. Mr. Harrison was a member of the Board of Governors of The Nature Conservancy from 1980-1990, and was Chairman of the Board during 1988 and 1989.
Leo Eisel is a member of the national engineering firm of Brown and Caldwell. He serves in their offices in Golden, Colorado. Dr. Eisel received his Ph.D. in engineering from Harvard University in 1970, a master’s degree in hydrology from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and a bachelor’s degree in forestry from Colorado State University. Dr. Eisel is a water resources engineer of near-unique experience and credentials, with experience in all sectors including state and federal government, private industry, the NGO sector, and academia. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in five states.
From 1971 to 1973, Dr. Eisel was a staff scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund in New York. He also served for a year as a research associate in the U.S. State Department’s Aid for International Development program, which included work in Pakistan; headed the Illinois Division of Water Resources (then the Division of Waterways) under Democratic Gov. Dan Walker; and was chosen as head of the Illinois EPA by Republican Gov. James R. Thompson in 1977. From 1977 to 1980, he was the director of the U.S. Water Resources Council.
Dr. Eisel was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Water Science and Technology Board and received the National Groundwater Association Honorary Member Award.
David Robbins is president and co-founder of Hill & Robbins, P.C., where his practice emphasizes the fields of water and natural-resources law, water quality, and environmental law. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Robbins served in the U.S. Army (Captain, 1969-1972) and with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region VIII (1973-1974). He then joined the Colorado Attorney General’s Office as a First Assistant Attorney General and head of the Natural Resources Section (1975-77), and was later appointed the Deputy Attorney General (1977-1978). Mr. Robbins represented the State of Colorado in a variety of interstate water matters, and served as counsel to the state engineer in adjudication proceedings and trials concerning basin-wide rules and regulations. He also represented the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and successfully defended the constitutionality of the state’s first instream flow protection law in both the trial court and before the Colorado Supreme Court.
Since 1981, Mr. Robbins has served as general counsel to the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, where he has led the efforts to defeat speculative proposals to mine the ground water of Colorado’s San Luis Valley, which ultimately resulted in Congressional action on a bill Mr. Robbins initially drafted to create the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Since 1985, Mr. Robbins has served as counsel of record for the State of Colorado in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Kansas v. Colorado, No. 105 Original (October Term, 1985), involving the Arkansas River Compact, both before the special master and the Court. Mr. Robbins has served as Special Counsel to the Southwestern Water Conservation District for over twenty years and was appointed general counsel for the Republican River Water Conservation District shortly after its formation in 2003.
Mr. Robbins is a former member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (1980-89) and served as its chairman in 1985-86. Mr. Robbins was a member of the Colorado River Salinity Control Forum and the Colorado River Salinity Control Advisory Council, representing Colorado. From 1979 until 2003, he served as the Forum’s vice chairman from 1981 to 1984 and from 2001 to 2003, and as its chairman from 1984 to 1990. He is a member of the Colorado Water Congress and has served on its board of directors for many years, including a term as its President.
Mike Browning is a water attorney practicing in Boulder, Colorado at the law firm of Porzak Browning & Bushong, LLP. Born Great Falls, Montana, he was admitted to the Colorado bar in 1977. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Montana in 1974 and his law degree from Yale Law School in 1977. In the past, Mr. Browning served as the Water Editor for The Colorado Lawyer and as the Vice-President of the American Alpine Club. He is an avid outdoorsman, having summitted two of the world’s fourteen 8,000 meter peaks, including Mount Everest.