Doug Kenney has been with the Natural Resources Law Center/GWC since 1996, where he is the Director of the Western Water Policy Program, the Chairman of the Colorado River Research Group, and the host/organizer of summer water conference. He researches and writes extensively on several water-related issues, including law and policy reform, transboundary resource management, and climate change adaptation.聽 Dr. Kenney has served as a consultant to a variety of local, state, multi-state, and federal agencies, including several Interior Department agencies, EPA, the U.S. Forest Service, and special commissions (e.g., the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission); and national governments and non-governmental organizations in Asia and Africa. Additionally, he has made presentations in (at least) 21 states (and the District of Columbia), 8 nations, and 5 continents. He has a B.A. in biology from the University of Colorado, a M.S. in Natural Resources Policy and Administration from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Renewable Natural Resource Studies from the University of Arizona.
Douglas Kenney's abbreviated CV can be found here.
Selected Colorado River Publications & Presentations
Publications
Berggren, J., J. Fleck, D. Kenney and Mariana Rivera-Torres. 2022. A Pie No More? Building a More Equitable Colorado River Governance Structure.聽 IN:听 Cornerstone at the Confluence: Navigating the Colorado River Compact鈥檚 Next Century (edited by Jason Anthony Robison).聽 ISBN-13:978-0-8165-4764-7. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Kenney, Douglas S., Michael Cohen, John Berggren and Regina M. Buono. 2021. The Colorado River Basin. IN: , (edited by Jurgen Schmandt and Aysegul Kibaroglu). ISBN:听9781108417037.聽 Cambridge University Press.
Kenney, Douglas S.聽 2020. The Changing Fate of Western Rivers: The Case of the Colorado.聽 IN:听 The Environmental Politics and Policy of Western Public Lands (edited by Erika Allen Wolters and Brent S. Steel).聽 Corvallis: Oregon State University Press.
Dilling, L., M. Daly, D. Kenney, R. Klein, K. Miller, A. Ray, W. Travis, and O. Wilhelmi.聽 2019.聽 "Drought in urban water systems: Learning lessons for climate adaptive capacity."聽 Climate Risk Management 23 (2019) 32-42.
Dilling L., J. Berggren, J. Henderson, and D. Kenney. 2019. 鈥淪avior of rural landscapes or Solomon鈥檚 choice? Colorado鈥檚 experiment with alternative transfer methods for water (ATMs).鈥� Water Security.
Hanak, Ellen, Brian Gray, Jeffrey Mount, Kurt Schwabe, Timothy Bradley, Bonnie Colby, Douglas Kenney, Josu茅 Medell铆n-Azuara, and Jean-Daniel Saphores.聽 2016.聽 "California's Water: The Colorado River."聽 Public Policy Institute of California Policy Briefing Paper.聽 October.
Miller, Kathleen A., Alan F. Hamlet, Douglas S. Kenney, and Kelly T. Redmond (editors).聽 2016.聽 Water Policy and Planning in a Variable and Changing Climate.聽 CRC Press.
Robison, Jason, and Douglas S. Kenney.聽 2013.聽 Equity and the Colorado River.聽 Environmental Law, 42(4):1157-1209.
Kenney, Douglas S., Sarah Bates, Anne Bensard, and John Berggren.聽 2011.聽 The Colorado River and the Inevitability of Institutional Change.聽 Public Land & Resources Law Review, 32:103-152.
Kenney, Doug, Andrea Ray, Ben Harding, Roger Pulwarty, and Brad Udall.聽 2010.聽 Rethinking Vulnerability on the Colorado River.聽 Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education, 144:5-10, March.
Kenney, Douglas S.聽 2010.聽 Rethinking the Future of the Colorado River.聽 Interim Report of the Colorado River Governance Initiative.聽 Boulder: Natural Resources Law Center, Western Water Policy Program.聽
Presentations
"Colorado River 101: Modern decision-making in the basin"聽as part of Navigating the Rapids:听 Colorado River Governance in the 21st听颁别苍迟耻谤测.聽 University of Arizona, Tucson. 聽February 15, 2024.
鈥淐risis on the Colorado River: From Short-Term Solutions to Long-Term Sustainability鈥� (as host) at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment, University of Colorado.聽 Boulder, CO; June 8-9, 2023.
鈥淔rom Hindsight to Foresight: Beyond the Colorado River Compact鈥檚 Centennial鈥� at the 6th Annual Water & Tribes Luncheon at the 2022 Colorado River Water Users Association conference.聽 Las Vegas, NV.聽 December 14, 2022.
鈥淐limate Change & Colorado River Governance鈥� at the event, Confluence: The Colorado River at the Compact鈥檚 Centennial.聽 University of Arizona.聽 Tucson, Arizona.聽 December 6, 2022.
鈥�2026 May be Too Late:听 Hard Conversations about Really Complicated Issues鈥� (as co-host) at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment, University of Colorado.聽 Boulder, CO; June 16-17, 2022.
Time to Get Real.鈥� Equity in the Colorado River Basin: How to Sustainability Manage a Shrinking Resource, at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment, University of Colorado.聽 Boulder, CO; October 1, 2021.聽
鈥淭he Grand Transect: From the High Plains to the Height of Rocky Mountain National Park鈥� at the 29th Annual Conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists.聽 Estes Park, CO; October 10, 2019.
鈥淚s the Colorado River Compact Still Relevant: Why or Why Not?鈥� at the Water Property Investor Annual Meeting.聽 San Francisco, CA; October 3, 2019.
鈥淭he Case for a Grand Bargain鈥� at the Annual Seminar of the Colorado River District.聽 Grand Junction, CO; September 18, 2019.
鈥淭he Colorado River Water Scarcity Crisis Explained鈥� at the 14th Annual Hydrologic Sciences Symposium.聽 Boulder, CO; April 12, 2019.
鈥淒rought, Aridification, and the New Normal鈥� at the annual conference of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. Cheyenne, WY; November 17, 2018.
鈥淲hat Lies Beneath?: Reasons to Care (and be Excited About) Groundwater Use and Management in the Southwest鈥� (as host) at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment, University of Colorado.聽 Boulder, CO; June 7-8, 2018.
"How are other states dealing with changes in water use and growth" at the Idaho's Water: Supply and Quality in a Time of Growth conference.聽 Boise, ID; April 17, 2018.
鈥淭he Colorado River: Searching for Sustainability鈥� at the SERIDAS workshop.聽 Bellagio, Italy; November 15, 2017.
鈥淐limate Change, Water, and Our Future鈥� at the Colorado Foundation for Water Education鈥檚 water fluency program.聽 Parachute, CO; July 25, 2017
"Fighting Back on the Colorado River: Carving Out Progress on Multiple Fronts鈥� (event host).聽 University of Colorado, Boulder; June 8-9, 2017.
鈥淲ater Rights & Responsibilities: Expanding the Use of Market Forces鈥� at the Sustainability Summit, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.聽 Cambridge, MA; April 28, 2017.
鈥淐olorado State of Mind鈥� TV (PBS) show, reporting on the functioning of the Interim Guidelines and the Lower Basin structural deficit.聽 (With Reagan Waskom.)聽 January 21, 2016.聽
"Extremes, Averages or Both:听 Where Do the Risks Lie?"聽 Upper Colorado River Basin Forum.聽 Grand Junction, CO; October 29, 2015.
"Water Scarcity in the Colorado River:听 Who Gets the Water?"聽 Presentation to the Ridgway-Ouray Community Council.聽 Ridgway, CO; October 15, 2015.
鈥淐hallenges for the Colorado River Basin鈥� (webinar).聽 Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado.聽 Boulder, Colorado; October 16, 2013.
鈥淧olicy and Legal Implications of Reduced Colorado River Flows.鈥澛� Presentation at the Annual Conference of the Universities Council on Water Resources and the National Institutes of Water Resources (UCOWR/NIWR), Boulder, CO; July 12, 2011.
鈥淩ethinking the Future of the Colorado River.鈥澛� Presentation to the Colorado River Water Users Association, Las Vegas, NV; December 16, 2010.