Our Leadership and Staff

Our interim director is the the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Associate Director for Agriculture and Natural Resources and Economic Development. He is a faculty member in the Department of Agricultural Education, Technology & Innovation and the School of Government and Public Policy. He oversees the $62 million Water Irrigation Efficiency Program and is active in programing which addresses forest health, watershed management, soil health, irrigated systems, business development and crop production.

Our Co-Director is the director of the Global Mining Law Center and professor of practice at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law where he teaches courses related to the international mining industry. Lacy is a shareholder in the firm DeConcini, McDonald, Yetwin, & Lacy P.C., where his practice has focused on mining and natural resource law.

Our Research Specialist, supports the undergraduate course ACBS/LAW 411 with logistics and curriculum design and helps students with online course delivery of materials in D2L. Anne’s masters degree in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Water Conflict Management and Transformation is from Oregon State University. Anne worked 18 years with The Nature Conservancy as a Conservation Planner.

Our Communications Associate helps with publishing the quarterly newsletter, maintaining the Center’s website, managing listservs and social media. She also prepares progress reports, organizes Advisory Board activities, develops marketing materials and provides meeting reports.

Barret is the Director of the Natural Resource Use and Management Clinic. Before joining the faculty at the law school, John was an attorney in private practice in Tucson for 10 years, where he focused on litigation, particularly in matters related to commercial contracts, real estate and natural resources.  He has also worked in the nonprofit world in both Illinois and Arizona, focusing on environmental arts, education, threatened rangeland and conservation.

Johnson is a member of the Hopi Tribe in northern Arizona whose research focuses on Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Land Use Management schemes related to food, energy, conservation and water. He is also a traditional Hopi dryland farmer and has given extensive talks on the subject. His scholarly works are published in academic peer reviewed journals as well as featured articles. He currently is an Assistant Specialist of Indigenous Resiliency with the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cooperative Extension, and the Indigenous Resilience Center.

Ruyle is a Professor Emeritus who worked as an Extension Specialist in the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment and as co-director for NRULPC and continues to hold the Marley Endowed Chair for Sustainable Rangeland Stewardship. Ruyle is an internationally renowned expert on appropriate and rational long-term natural resource use specializing in collaborative and adaptive rangeland livestock management.