Sarah Bates is a Senior Associate with the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Montana. She holds a J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law (1988) and a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and Political Science from Colorado State University (1984). She is a member of the State Bars of California and Montana.

Ms. Bates has written and spoken extensively on natural resources policy and law, with an emphasis on western water resources and public resource governance institutions. Her most recent book (co-edited with Larry MacDonnell) is The Evolution of Natural Resources Law and Policy (American Bar Association, 2010).

Ms. Bates served on the advisory board of the William Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming from 2001-09, and on the governing board the Clark Fork Coalition from 2005-11. She is currently a member of the advisory board of the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado Law School, and participates on the Carpe Diem West project team (see interview).