Support for endangered Platte species arises from rivalries

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

The complex negotiations resulting in a recovery plan for endangered species in the Platte River Basin may seem like pretty dry stuff to some.

But David Freeman positively radiates passion discussing what he describes as an unprecedented achievement demonstrating that adversaries can transcend turf considerations to reach a compact at least tolerable to all.

That process is detailed in his recently released book, "Implementing the Endangered Species Act on the Platte Basin Water Commons."

"We as a self-governing people can find a way to govern ourselves," Freeman said in an interview. "This is a model of how people who don't like each other can come together and get things done."

He said the process resulting in the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program could serve as template for building the trust necessary to resolve seemingly insoluble conflicts.

"This applies to what happens in Afghanistan if we want to win the war," he cited as an example.

A professor emeritus in the Colorado State University Department of Sociology, Freeman's background makes him uniquely suited to research and record the Platte River process in intimate detail.

He has worked more than 40 years on social organization relating to irrigation systems in South Asia and the western United States. In Pakistan he worked with mixed success to resolve well-pumping disputes, organizing a cooperative approach farmers could trust.

Freeman also is extensively self-schooled in the intricacies of water distribution in the West. He was raised among dryland farmers on the plains of eastern Montana.

Then after coming to CSU in 1967, he immersed himself in regional water issues. Freeman systematically studied the 109 "wonderfully successful irrigation associations in northern Colorado" and developed close working relationships with many of the long-time icons in the close-knit water community.

"Water is the most sociological thing on Earth," said Freeman, postulating that he may be the only sociologist who owns a water-measuring flume.

Freeman applied his characteristic obsessive persistence and thoroughness in his book. In it, he details the exhausting 12-year process resulting in an agreement to restore and preserve habitat for three birds and a fish designated as endangered species – the whooping crane, interior least tern, piping plover and pallid sturgeon.

The effort brought together environmentalists, state and federal officials and representatives from Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.

These strange, suspicious and sometimes outright hostile bedfellows were united only by the need to cooperatively develop a recovery plan lest a less desirable one be imposed.

Freeman was there from the beginning in 1994 when governors of the three states agreed to talks until an agreement was reached and ultimately signed into law.

He describes the moment that process culminated on a sunny October morning as one utterly devoid of drama, celebration or commemoration.

Yet Freeman said it marked a remarkable and historic event.

"Since 1994 – for 12 long years – negotiators had been working slowly, haltingly, defensively shaping the terms and conditions under which they would voluntarily and cooperatively organize to retime about 11 percent of the average annual surface flow of the Platte River," he wrote.

Freeman traveled across a vast territory to attend all of the untold hundreds of meetings relating to the development of the recovery plan. He was asked to leave only twice.

"There was never a day when I woke up and said 'I want to stop this process.' There never was a day I said 'I've had it,'" Freeman said.

Some of the participants were obviously chilly and suspicious of him, he said, particularly the Nebraskans defensive about their traditional use of Platte River water.

Building trust took a long time, but there was plenty of time to do so when the recovery plan negotiations stretched an additional six years beyond the scheduled 2000 completion date.

Freeman said barriers also came down when it became apparent that he was "not going to drop a hand grenade down anybody's shorts."

He promised anonymity to all involved and solicited representatives from each of the interest groups to review his manuscript. "Every community, when I got done, wanted to see this book distributed," Freeman said.

Beyond the book, he also plans to spread the word speaking at public forums. Freeman believes that he has a compelling message that broadly applies to how individuals and agencies can move beyond seemingly intractable conflict for their benefit and that of the community at large.

"For all our disagreement, we as a self-governing people came together with a new way to govern the Platte system," said Freeman. "That is an outstanding achievement."

"Implementing the Endangered Species Act on the Platte River Water Commons" is published by the University Press of Colorado. It is available for $45 plus shipping and handling by calling 800-627-7377.