David H. Getches

            David Getches is the Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado School of Law.  He teaches and writes on water law, public land law, environmental law, and Indian law.  Professor Getches has published several books including:  Water Law in a Nutshell (1997); Searching Out the Headwaters: Change and Rediscovery in Western Water Law and Policy, with Bates, MacDonnell and Wilkinson (1993); Controlling Water Use:  The Unfinished Business of Water Quality Control, with MacDonnell and Rice (1991); Water Resource Management, with Tarlock and Corbridge (1993); and Federal Indian Law, with Wilkinson and Williams (1998).  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 and criticizing the Supreme Court’s departure from traditional principles in Indian law.

            From 1983-1987, David Getches was Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources under Governor Richard D. Lamm.  The department includes ten divisions of state government that deal with parks, wildlife, land, water, and minerals.  While in that post 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.

            Mr. Getches was the founding Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF).  He developed the staff, funding, and program of this national, nonprofit Indian-interest law firm.  Major cases he litigated include a Northwest Indian fishing rights case (United States v. Washington, also known as “the Boldt decision”) and a case on behalf of Eskimos to establish the North Slope Borough, the largest municipality in the world, which includes the Prudhoe Bay oil fields.  His other cases dealt with water rights, land claims, federal trust responsibilities, environmental issues, education, and civil rights on behalf of Native American clients throughout the West.

            Getches serves on several boards.  He 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 Natural Resources Law Center, American Rivers, and Trust for Public Land.  He has served on the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Colorado River Salinity Control Forum, Colorado Groundwater Commission, Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board, Rocky Flats Environmental Monitoring Council, and the Board of Directors of the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies (LAW Fund).

            Professor Getches has consulted widely concerning water policy and national policies concerning indigenous peoples with governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations throughout the United States and in several foreign countries.

            Getches is a graduate of Occidental College and the University of Southern California Law School.