The University of Colorado at Boulder's Center of the American West and School of Law will host a panel discussion on "Public Lands, Private Ceremonies: Native American Religious Practices and Public Lands in the West" on Jan. 21.
The panel discussion will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Wolf Law Building's Wittemeyer Courtroom on the CU campus. The panel is free and open to the public.
The program is presented by the Natural Resources and Environmental Law Section of the Boulder County Bar Association, an organization dedicated to improving education and opportunities for its lawyer members through programs and community relations, as well as educating the public about their legal rights and responsibilities.
Patty Limerick, director of the Center of the American West, will moderate the panel. Speakers include LouAnn Jacobson, manager of the Bureau of Land Management's Canyon of the Ancients National Monument and Anasazi Heritage Center, Robert Lawrence of Davis, Graham and Stubbs LLP in Denver and Steve Moore, senior staff attorney of the Native American Rights Fund.
The panel will highlight issues that arise when traditional and cultural land use comes into conflict with nonreligious use of land in the American West. The "Arizona Snowbowl Snowmaking Case," the Mt. Taylor uranium exploration case and the Nine-Mile Canyon natural gas exploration case are examples that illustrate the tension between Native American religious practices and nonreligious uses.
Continuing Legal Education credit is available. To sign up for CLE, lawyers should go to the Boulder County Bar Association's Web site at and go to the calendar.
For more information on the Jan. 21 event call 303-492-4879.