Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar presented the U.S. Department of the Interior's "Partners in Conservation Award" to the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree Ring Research, Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, and the Arizona Water Institute on May 7 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Scientists from the three units contributed to an Environmental Impact Statement associated with new guidelines for shortage sharing and cooperative management of Lake Mead and Lake Powell on the Colorado River. The resulting "Interim Guidelines" are a major amendment to the "Law of the River," which is a collection of dozens of laws, court findings and operating agreements dating back to 1922. A longer description of the research and modeling is online at the UA news site. [right, Colorado River. Credit, Kathy Jacobs]
Kathy Jacobs, director of the Arizona Water Institute, accepted the award on behalf of the units and research team at the University.
Ironically, the Water Institute is being eliminated due to state budget cuts.
[parts of this post were taken from the UA news release]