For Professor Sarah Krakoff and students from the University of Colorado Boulder, spring marks a transition from the halls of the Wolf Law Building to the fields of the San Luis Valley.
Since 2012, Krakoff and her law students have regularly trekked to one of the largest high altitude deserts in the world, where they clear debris from irrigation ditches or acequias and provide free legal assistance to farmers whose water rights are in question.
“We work with local farmers or irrigators to draft bylaws for their acequias to help them take advantage of Colorado laws and also represent these farmers whose water rights are at risk,” said Krakoff, a CU-Boulder law professor who specializes in American Indian and natural resources law. “Our goal is to help protect their traditional ways of operating.”