The Rural West Conference is an annual interdisciplinary gathering workshop that brings together academics, practitioners, and policymakers to share knowledge and ideas about the rural West, catalyzing scholarship and solutions to this region’s pressing problems. Each spring, the Lane Center travels to a different location in the West, growing the network of individuals and organizations invested in identifying solutions to challenges of rural policy, health and environment.
The 7th Annual Eccles Family Rural West Conference was held on April 5 & 6 in Park City, Utah. The gathering proved to be an engaging and interdisciplinary dialogue on the critical issues facing rural communities in the American West. Under the banner of Destination: West, this year’s conference focused on the legacies and contemporary implications of amenity migration in the rural American West. Over the two days in Park City, panels and keynote speakers addressed the topics of economics, politics, culture, and environment.
Agenda
Friday, April 5, 2019
Registration and Welcoming Lunch
David M. Kennedy
Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University
Welcome
Thomas Schnaubelt
Haas Center for Public Service, Stanford University
Introduction
Kirk Siegler
NPR
Keynote, Reporter's Notebook: Covering the Rural West
Panel 1: Shifting Economics and Demographics: The Rise of Destination West
Don Albrecht
Western Rural Development Center, Utah State University
Jennifer Leaver
Gardner Policy Institute at University of Utah
Megan Nelson
The Nature Conservancy
Patrick Shea
University of Utah
Moderator
Panel 2: Newcomers and Old-Timers: Cultural Clash and Amenity Migrants
Justin Farrell
Yale University
Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Desert News
Carl Fisher
Save Our Canyons
Katie A. Eccles
Ray, Quinney & Nebeker
Moderator
Reception and Networking
Dinner and Keynote
C. Hope Eccles
Advisory Council, Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University
Introduction
Greg Thompson
University of Utah
Keynote, Park City: White Gold and the Emergence of the Amenity West
Cancelled: Star Party Event
Hosted by The Consortium for Dark Sky Studies and the Stanford Club of Utah
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Breakfast
Reflections on Public Opinion in the Amenity West
David Brady
Stanford University
Panel 3: Public Policy and the Political Implications of Rural Migration
Dany Rumore
SJ Quinney College of Law at University of Utah
Flint Timmins
Utah Office of Tourism
Nan Groves Anderson
Utah Governor's Office of Rural Development
Bruce E. Cain
Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University
Moderator
Panel 4: Environmental Considerations of Amenity Migration: Development and Land Use Policy in the Rural West
Steven Odell
U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon
Elizabeth Kitchens
The Nature Conservancy
Briana Swette
Stanford University
Craig Thomas
University of Washington
Moderator
Lunch and Closing Remarks
Bruce E. Cain
Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University