Lincoln Bramwell, Chief Historian for USDA Forest Service, to Speak at Denver Law on November 14

Dr. Lincoln Bramwell, Chief Historian for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, will make a presentation at Denver Law on "Exurban Land Use in Colorado" on Monday, November 14 at noon in room 170.

Dr. Bramwell's presentation was announced by Liz Hutchinson, president of the sponsoring organization the Natural Resources and Environmental Law Society (NRELS).

In the middle part of the last century, Rocky Mountain-based developers began to design areas Dr. Bramwell refers to as "wilderburbs," groups of rural homes located close to cities. He argued in his dissertation that "when humans tried to blend suburban order and structure with untrammeled natural aesthetics and features, they created unintended consequences for residents, the land, and wildlife." His dissertation has been published as a book, "Wilderburbs: Nature, culture, and the rise of rural development in the Rocky Mountain West, 1960-2000." More information about the book can be obtained by clicking here.

In addition, NRELS has arranged for interested students to join Professor Rock Pring's Public Lands and Resources Law Class (Monday, November 14 from 2:45 – 4:00 in room 280 as long as there is space available) for Dr. Bramwell’s presentation on “The 1911 Weeks Act: The Law that ‘Nationalized’ the National Forests.” The act has enabled the Forest Service to purchase eroded and cut-over private lands in the eastern United States.

In 2009 when he was named historian for the Forest Service, Dr. Bramwell said, "In my position as the agency's historian, it is my goal to make Forest Service history more accessible to the public and more meaningful to the agency." Earlier in his career he worked on Forest Service hotshot and trail crews. "I had the opportunity to view the agency from the ground up and find working for it no less compelling today," he said.