Noon Tunes on Pearl Street
Jul 6th
Boulder Channel 1’s presentation of Noon Tunes music on the Downtown Boulder Mall.
CU-BOULDER MOURNS LOSS OF DAVID GETCHES, FORMER CU LAW DEAN
Jul 5th
Longtime University of Colorado Law School Dean David Getches, who had stepped down on June 30 in order to return to the school’s faculty, died today. He was 68.
Getches joined the faculty of Colorado Law in 1979 as a nationally renowned expert in natural resources and Indian law issues. He wrote several books on water law, natural resources law and Indian rights issues and his work has appeared in numerous publications.
“On behalf of the entire University of Colorado community, I wish to express my deepest and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of David Getches,” said Chancellor Phil DiStefano. “David provided exceptional leadership as dean of the Law School for close to a decade and had an outstanding career as a scholar and teacher. He will be greatly missed as a friend, colleague and member of the CU community, as well as by members of the legal profession throughout the United States.”
Getches served as dean of Colorado Law from 2003 to 2011. Under his leadership the university financed and constructed the $46 million Wolf Law Building and expanded the academic offerings at the law school, which include an endowed Experiential Learning Program, three Master of Laws degrees, three legal clinics, three certificates and eight dual-degrees.
“David Getches came along at exactly the right time for the American West, which has undergone such sweeping changes over the past half century,” said Charles Wilkinson, Moses Lasky Professor of Law and longtime friend. “As a wise advocate and leading public intellectual, David brought vision, common sense and passion to pressing issues of water, land and Indian rights. Now Indian tribes, universities, government offices, conservationists and the rivers themselves will grieve aloud. We will not see his kind again.”
Phil Weiser, who took over as dean of Colorado Law on July 1, said, “David leaves a remarkable legacy of integrity and commitment to excellence. All of us in the Colorado Law community will miss him greatly and I will miss him dearly as a mentor and a friend. His memory and spirit will remain a blessing to us all.”
From 1983 to 1987, Getches was executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources under Gov. Richard D. Lamm. Getches earned his undergraduate degree from Occidental College in California and his law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law. He began his legal career in 1967 with the law firm of Luce, Forward, Hamilton and Scripps in San Diego. In 1968, he was co-directing attorney for California Indian Legal Services and in 1970, he moved to Colorado to become the founding executive director for the Boulder-based Native American Rights Fund, a national, nonprofit Indian-interest law firm.
A memorial service for Getches is being planned and will be announced at a later date.
Contributions may be sent to the David H. Getches Scholarship Fund. Additional information is available at http://www.cufund.org/GetchesScholarship.
Parks and Recreation Department utilizing goats to control weeds at Boulder Reservoir
Jul 5th
For the 11th consecutive year, the City of Boulder’s Parks and Recreation Department is employing an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to control invasive weeds in non-irrigated park areas by grazing between 300 and 350 goats in the areas. The goats will be arriving on the east side of the Boulder Reservoir (along the dam) around July 7-8 and will stay for approximately one week. Park users should not be impacted by the goats, but are asked to keep dogs leashed along the dam faces in the area of the goats in order to avoid encounters with and to not impact the goats.
Goats have been utilized effectively as a control for many weeds, as they eat even prickly weeds. The state of Colorado’s noxious weed act requires monitoring and control of certain plant species, and the Parks and Recreation Department complies with this state mandate by applying the four IPM techniques for weed management – mechanical, biological, cultural and chemical. The use of biological controls, such as goat grazing, is important as the department seeks to reduce the amount of herbicides used.
When done at the proper times, grazing prevents the current year’s plants from going to seed and depletes the root system’s reserves. Grazing also recycles organic material back into the soil and cultivates the ground allowing for better water infiltration, aeration and sunlight exposure.
For more information, call Shelly Ruspakka, Parks and Recreation, at 303-413-7214.
