Yuma hosting 33rd annual International Conference on Urban Waterfront Planning, Development and Cult

You may not automatically think of Yuma as a "waterfront" city, but the Colorado River runs directly through Yuma. Lately, the city has been working to build upon the river's presence as a resource for both residents and visitors.

Now, Yuma's Waterfront Center and the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area are co-hosting the 2018 Urban Waterfront conference, January 24-28, 2018. Anne Castle will be the featured keynote speaker. Castle served as Assistant Secretary for Water and Science in the U.S. Department of the Interior from 2009-2014. Her speech will be titled, "The Years of Living Dangerously - Ebbs and Flows on the Colorado River."

The conference will have two areas of focus: one on the Colorado River, and the other on the challenges for waterfronts and waterfront communities facing sea level rise, hurricanes, and flooding. Updates on initiatives in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Portland, Oregon, will be presented during the conference.

"We are excited about the range of speaker expertise we are bringing to the conference, both on the Colorado River and issues of more global concern," says Charles Flynn, Executive Director of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area.

The conference begins with an introductory dinner at the historic St. Paul's Episcopal Church, now a cultural events center, on Wednesday, January 24, followed by a pre-conference field trip and exhibitors' welcome reception and dinner that Thursday. The field trip will take conference attendees to Gateway Park and the Yuma East Wetlands, a 400 acre wetlands restoration, considered a model for restoration in the desert Southwest. The field trip will also stop at the Yuma West Wetlands, a 110 acre riverfront park converted from the city's landfill, and the Imperial Dam, where nearly 90 percent of the remaining water in the Colorado River is diverted, mostly to California.

The conference schedule includes an in-depth look at the development of the Colorado River in the 20th century, including the establishment of legal rights to and allocation of river water, the building of dams, and the resultant environmental damage. Flynn will provide a historical perspective of the river and Yuma, while Jim Cherry, retired manager from the Bureau of Reclamation will talk about dam building, and Dr. John Schmidt, Utah State professor of watershed sciences, and formerly from the United States Geological Survey, will discuss environmental damage.

Additional panels include Facing Water's Challenges in Today's World; Contemporary Issues: Mitigation, Restoration and Water Conservation; The Colorado River in the 21st Century; Water Conservation/Innovation: and, What Cities Can Do.

More information on the 2018 Urban Waterfronts conference is available HERE.