On Tuesday evening, December 11th, Richard Louv, whose book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder has created a national conversation about the disconnection between children and nature, shared his insights with the Idaho Environmental Summit. photos are here ::
To stimulate a "Leave No Child Inside" movement, he offers practical suggestions for action by parents, grandparents, government agencies, conservationists, urban planners, educators and others concerned about the future of childhood and the earth itself.
A columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune from 1984 to 2006, Mr. Louv has written for the New York Times and other newspapers and magazines, and has been a columnist and member of the editorial advisory board for Parents magazine. He is the chairman of the Children & Nature Network (www.cnaturenet.org), and a member of the Citistates Group. He has served as an advisor to the Ford Foundation's 'Leadership for a Changing World' award program and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child; and as a Visiting Scholar at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
Opening Ceremony (photographs)
An opening ceremony began the Idaho Environmental Summit in the spirit of tradition as we honored
the Idaho Tribes, Idaho State and all United States citizens who share this great land.
Following a brief introduction by Ted Howard (Shoshone-Paiute Tribes), Federal State and Tribal Flags will be presented with Shoshone-Paiute Tribes Drums and honor song. An invocation by Lionel Boyer (Shoshone-Bannock Tribes) will precede the welcome address by Chief Kyle Prior’s (Shoshone-Paiute Tribes) welcome address.
Keith Allred PhD (photographs)
In addition to publishing in leading academic journals, Keith has significant experience in applying his scholarly knowledge to real world challenges as a professional mediator. Keith has helped manage and resolve public lands, hydroelectric dam, tribal, and land use disputes among others.
As a consultant and trainer he has worked for Fortune 500 companies, federal and state agencies, and local governments. He is the founder and president of TheCommonInterest.org, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that works in the Idaho legislature to put common sense solutions ahead of special interest and partisan politics.
Dr. Allred taught and conducted research on leadership, particularly in the areas of negotiation and conflict resolution, for seven years as a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government where he was also a faculty member of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Before joining the faculty at Harvard, he was a professor in social and organizational psychology at Columbia University.
A fifth-generation Idahoan and father of three, he grew-up working summers on the family cattle ranch. Dr. Allred competed successfully on cutting horses, going to the national championships twice.
Charles Wilkinson (photographs)
Keynote:
CREATING SOCIETIES TO MATCH THE SCENERY IN IDAHO AND THE WEST -
The Role of Watersheds and Watershed Communities
For the nineteenth century and much of the twentieth, water policy meant the stability offered by the combination of the "first in time, first in right" prior appropriation doctrine and large dam-and-reservoir projects. Then, beginning roughly in the 1970s, environmental regulation and other social and legal concerns began to take hold in the form of instream flow programs, Indian reserved rights, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and other laws. Now, across Idaho and the American West, we are asking ever more of our rivers - more development, more protection. This presentation will address three ethics that seem to be emerging: we cherish the wildness in our rivers; the best way to protect our rivers is to improve watershed health; and, while regulation remains important, we are willing to expend the necessary time to improve watershed health through broad-based negotiation and collaboration among all watershed interests.
Charles Wilkinson is the Moses Lasky Professor of Law at the University of Colorado and one of twenty-five Distinguished University Professors at the CU-Boulder campus. Dr. Wilkinson has written broadly on law, history, and society in the American West. His fourteen books include the standard law texts on federal public land law and American Indian law. He has moved beyond legal scholarship to a general audience in books such as The Eagle Bird (1992), Crossing the Next Meridian (1992), Messages from Frank's Landing (2001), and Fire on the Plateau (1999). His most recent book, Blood Struggle-The Rise of Modern Indian Nations, published in 2005 by W.W. Norton, received the Colorado Book Award.
Outside Magazine named him one of 15 "People to Watch," calling him "the West's leading authority on natural resources law." In 2005, Outside also named him a "Water Hero" for his advocacy on behalf of free-flowing rivers. He has served on the boards of The Wilderness Society, the Center of the American West, and the Grand Canyon Trust.
In addition to other mediations, he acted as mediator in negotiations between the City of Seattle, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, and the National Marine Fisheries Service that resulted in a 2007 resolution of disputes over water withdrawals and Pacific salmon protection in the Cedar River in Washington.
D.J. Eagle Bear Vanas (photographs)
D.J. Vanas will deliver an hour program, Keeping the Fires Lit - using Native philosophy and wisdom to inspire attendees to renew their sense of purpose, passion and service.
D.J. Eagle Bear Vanas is a husband, father, internationally acclaimed motivational storyteller and success coach. He is also the author of the celebrated book The Tiny Warrior: A Path to Personal Discovery & Achievement which is printed is six countries.
He holds a B.S. from the U.S. Air Force Academy and an M.S. from University of Southern California. After serving ten years as an Air Force officer, he is now the president of his own company, Native Discovery Inc., D.J. Vanas mission is to "build the warriors of tomorrow...today" and can be reached at www.nativediscovery.com.
D.J. is an Odawa Indian from Michigan and uses traditional warrior concepts and wisdom to inspire others to achieve their best in life and career. For over a decade, he has delivered his dynamic programs in 49 states and overseas to over 1,700 audiences including NASA, IBM, Walt Disney, and hundreds of tribal governments, communities and schools.
Deborah Williams (photographs)
President of Alaska Conservation Solutions (AkCS), Ms. Williams will give voice to the pervasive consequences of global warming in Alaska while pursuing solutions.
Deborah Williams has been actively involved in conservation and sustainable community issues in Alaska for over 25 years, and is now focusing on global warming. She received her B.A. from Pomona College, summa cum laude, with a concentration in Biology and Economics. Subsequently she was graduated from Harvard Law School, with honors, and was the principal founder of and co-editor-in-chief of the Harvard Environmental Law Review.
After serving in the Department of Interior's Solicitors Honors Program in Washington D.C., Ms. Williams represented the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska. Between 1981 and 1994, Ms. Williams was the Executive Director of the Alaska Consumer Advocacy Program and of the Alaska Lung Association, while serving on many boards and commissions, including Trustees for Alaska (president of the board) and the Municipal Health Commission (Chair of the Environmental Health Committee).
In 1994, Deborah Williams received a Presidential appointment, and became the Special Assistant to the Secretary of Interior for Alaska, in which position she advised the Secretary about managing over 220 million acres of national lands in Alaska and working with Alaska tribes and others associated with the Department’s broad natural and cultural resource jurisdiction. She also was a Trustee on the Exxon Valdez Trustee Council and other boards. For over six years, Ms. Williams served as the Executive Director of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, winning many awards in that role.
Brent Stinnet (photographs)
Vice President, Resource Management, Potlatch Corporation (www.potlatchcorp.com). With roots reaching back 104 years to the foothills town of Potlatch, Idaho, Potlatch Corporation today owns 1.7 million acres of forestland (840,000 in Idaho) managed for multiple values. Mr. Stinnett will discuss Forestland Management in a Changing Economic and Geographical Landscape.
Climate Change City Action Panel (photographs)
This panel of city and county representatives will share ways their municipalities are finding climate change and energy solutions during a lunch keynote event. Idaho City officials will join this national panel in sessions to follow, sharing information and experiences locally, across the nation and with interested participants like you.
Mikaela Engert, City Planner, City of Keene, Keene, New HampshireDennis Murphy, Chief Environmental Officer, Office of Environmental Quality, City of Kansas City, Missouri
