Colorado State Hosts Â??water in the West’ Event and Opens Water Resource Archives to the Public June 25 at Morgan Library

Colorado State University will host the John Wesley Powell public program, "Water in the West: Multiple Visions 1866-2003," at Morgan Library on June 25. The library’s water resources archives will be open for public viewing.

The program, which will include entertainment for children and adults, will run from 6-9 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Presentations at the program include the following.

  • Travel back in time with national humanities scholar Clay Jenkinson as he presents a first-person portrayal of John Wesley Powell from 7-8 p.m.
  • Listen from 8-9 p.m. as panelists discuss legal, historical and environmental issues of Colorado water with Jenkinson as moderator. Panel includes Justice Gregory Hobbs, Colorado Supreme Court judge; Dr. Mark Fiege, Colorado State environmental history professor; and Dr. Brit Storey, senior historian, Bureau of Reclamation.
  • Tour water resource archives from 6-7 p.m. For questions, water resource archivist Patty Rettig will be available.
  • Storytelling and exhibits from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science will be available for children ages 5-11 from 6-9 p.m.
  • Dessert reception from 6-9 p.m.
  • A Colorado river "Moving Waters" exhibit will be on display during the evening.

John Wesley Powell, for whom the event is named, was a professor of natural history. He opened up the last unknown area of the continental United States and brought to an end the era of Western exploration. Powell went on to develop an understanding of the natural conditions that control society in the arid lands of the Western states and to develop guidelines for the orderly development of the region. Lake Powell bears his name.

The Water in the West public program is sponsored by the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities in partnership with Colorado State University’s College of Liberal Arts and the Morgan Library with support from the Bohemian Foundation and the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

The program is part of a weeklong Teacher Institute sponsored by Colorado Endowment for the Humanities and Colorado State University.

For more information about the event, contact the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities at (303) 894-7951 or Morgan Library at (970) 491-1835.