Author Description
Duane Mecham is an attorney with the Department of the Interior’s Solicitor’s Office based in Portland, Oregon. He received his BA and JD degrees from Brigham Young University. Prior to locating to Portland in 1996, he was an attorney with the Solicitor’s Office in Washington, DC. Duane advises and represents several Interior agencies in matters relating to tribal and federal water rights, hydropower and irrigation project operations, compliance with the Endangered Species Act, and salmon recovery in the Columbia and other river basins. He has extensive experience representing the Department in multi-party water resource disputes, including negotiations addressing the water right claims of the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho, the Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana, and the Umatilla Tribes in Oregon. He currently is assigned to the US State Department’s team representing the United States in negotiations with Canada seeking to modernize the terms of the Columbia River Treaty.
Authored Reports
Key Tribal Water Developments in the Pacific Northwest|Indian Water Right Negotiations: Interior's Considerations When Appointing Federal Negotiation Teams|Indian Reserved Rights in the 21st Century: Recent Developments in the Pacific Northwest|Tribal Wat
