NORRIS C. HUNDLEY, JR. COMMEMORATIVE LECTURE “WATERSHED COMMONWEALTHS: A FUTURE FOR THE AMERICAN WEST?”

UCLA Department of History is proud to present the

Norris C. Hundley, jr. Commemorative Lecture
“Watershed Commonwealths: A Future for the American West?”

Sponsored by the Hundley Family
Click here to learn more about Professor Norris Hundley:http://eamailer.support.ucla.edu/Images/Project/9955/Norris_Hundley_Bio.pdf

Presented by
Char Miller
W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis, Pomona College
Director, Environmental Analysis Program

Opening remarks by
Mel Levine
President of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Counsel, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Former member of the United States Congress from 1983 until 1993 and a member of the California Assembly

Tuesday, June 9, 2015
4:00 p.m.
Reception to follow

Charles E. Young Grand Salon
Kerckhoff Hall
UCLA Campus

Click here to RSVP by Tuesday, June 2: https://eventsrsvp.ucla.edu/hundley_lecture/logon.aspx?NoID=Y

Parking available for $12 in Structure 4
Inquiries: CollegeEvents@support.ucla.edu or (310) 825-4038

About the Event: Given the depth and duration of the drought confronting the region, and drawing off recent data about climate change and the impact it is having and will have on water supplies in the arid west, this talk explores an alternative perspective for mitigating and/or adapting to these increasing pressures: we should reengage with local watersheds and aquifers. This concept is an homage to an argument that John Wesley Powell made in the 1870s but which was ignored, as Los Angeles and San Francisco, Phoenix, Tucson, and Denver (and many other places) decided to exploit distant water sources and ignored those beneath their feet–a process that Norris Hundley, in The Great Thirst and other works, reveals. There is considerable evidence building that we are returning to Powell’s conception of how best to live in the west. The road not taken may be the path forward.