Desert Research Institute gets gift
Desert Research Institute's water resources program hit a high mark with an announcement Monday of a major financial gift that should keep it afloat for a long time.
The estate of Sulo and Aileen Maki left more than $20 million for DRI to establish an endowment for water resources and hydrology research in Southern Nevada, according to a news release by the institute, the research arm of the University of Nevada system.
Among the projects the money will help fund is research into the impacts of climate change on Southern Nevada's water resources.
"The gift will propel one of the nation's largest academic research units, DRI's hydrologic sciences and water resources program, into a position of global leadership," DRI President Stephen Wells said in the release Monday.
"Through the years, Sulo and Aileen have been DRI's most generous benefactors and I think it's fair to say, they were the leading advocates for establishing and supporting a DRI campus in Las Vegas," Wells said.
The endowment will be presented to the Board of Regents when the board meets later this week.
DRI spokesman Greg Bortolin said Sulo and Aileen Maki "have made a series of major gifts to the institute for many, many years" dating back to about 1970.
Aileen died in August and Sulo Maki died in 1985.
They made their fortune in real estate first by building and managing apartment complexes in Seattle and later in Las Vegas after they moved to Southern Nevada in 1951.
They became major residential developers near the downtown area.
According to John Warwick, DRI's Hydrologic Sciences director, the Maki estate funds will be used for long-term programs that will create opportunities for faculty members.
He said he envisions the funds will expand efforts in modeling and monitoring water quality and quantity in the Lower Colorado River as well as create a network of high-altitude precipitation and recharge monitoring stations "to better understand climate change impacts on Southern Nevada water resources."
