2021 Western States Planning Conference—Fantastic Sessions, Incredible Event

by Loras Rauch, AICP

The 2021 Western States Planning Conference was a great success!  Adhering to COVID protocols, over 300 planners from 14 different states showed how to successfully meet, exchange ideas, and even enjoy themselves without becoming news as a super-spreader event – it can be done. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED!  With over 40+ diverse sessions and 5 mobile tours to choose from it was hard to decide just which sessions or tours to attend.  

This conference offered more and more diverse Tribal sessions than ever before.  There were eight Tribal sessions, a Tribal & Indigenous Interest Group mixer, and the Short film entitled “L’EAU EST LA VIE (Water is Life): From Standing Rock to the Swamp” (as part of the Better Cities Film Festival held on Tuesday evening) that helped to raise awareness of some of the issues as well as the great planning happening in Tribal communities across the west.  In addition, the Virtual Conference---now available through the conference app---includes 2 more Tribal sessions: “The Ethics of Cultural Competency” and “Racial Equity in Today’s Society: A Tribal Perspective.”  Don’t forget to check back on the conference app. 

The session “Indigenizing the Planning Process: Weaving Tribal Planning Education & Experience” was one of the eight tribal sessions offered and a great start to the first full day of the conference.  This presentation discussed strategies for tailoring the typical planning process and planning tools in ways that advance culturally appropriate land uses and development for Tribal communities to create more meaningful and empowering decision making for Tribal communities.  Both presenters are educators at Arizona State University who have created a unique program that incorporates education about planning and its processes into the Native American Indian Studies program.  The rest of the day was full of equally fantastic sessions that ranged from discussions on New Mexico’s response to our changing climate, water shortages on the Colorado River and just what that means for both urban and rural communities, to a roadmap for accommodating large scale solar field develops as a low-impact land use in the wide open expanses of the West.  

The Opening Reception, at the OdySea Aquarium on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, was a sensory experience for sure.  There was an up close encounter with sharks that swam by the restroom sink, the velvety feel of a stingray or the sticky feel of sea urchins in the various touch tanks, and a variety of weird and amazing wildlife in other tanks and exhibits.  Best of all there was good food, catching up with old friends, and meeting new friends that made this such an enjoyable event.

The second day of the conference started out with “Meeting Cross-Culturally with Tribes; Ethics & Etiquette” – a fantastic session!  Acting ethically and with proper etiquette has always been important to me but I soon found out I had more lessons to learn.  Of course learning the history, governance structure, processes and culture (unique and different for every tribal community) is a good starting point but the true lesson was in the human-to-human communication differences.  I learned that what is meant, what is said, what is heard, and what is understood is viewed and interpreted very differently cross-culturally.  This session was like a “Rosetta stone for communication” and it just touched on the many mistakes a non-Native American can make without meaning to, or even knowing they are making, when meeting with Native American members!  Hopefully the presenter will consider providing a follow-up session at the 2022 Western Planner Conference in North Dakota.  This second day had equally great sessions ranging from wilderness and saving natural spaces, tribally-owned broadband projects, to encouraging local food production in Arizona communities.  

In the session “Keys to Successful Tribally Owned Broadband Projects: Planning and Implementation”, broadband projects on the Nez Perce, the St. Regis Mohawk, and the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Communities were discussed. The Tribal women who represented these communities were responsible for the development and management of these decade(s) long projects and they spoke frankly about the benefits as well as the lessons they learned along the way.  

After another day of sessions the APA Arizona Annual Planners’ Bazaar, a new and different treat for Western Planner Conference goers, kicked off a full evening of fun networking events.  Following the bazaar, the resort’s amenities beckoned some planners while others chose to watch the Better Cities Film Festival, or attend one of the planned “Mixers” while a few tried to channel their inner artist and create their version of “Saguaros in Bloom” at the painting party!   

The Virtual Conference is now open through the Conference App and contains 17 sessions (12 of which were part of the in-person conference).  The virtual conference is also available to those who attended the conference in-person.  So if you attended one of the many concurrent sessions, you can still watch those you might have missed plus the 5 sessions only offered through the virtual conference!