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Mapping, Modeling, And The Fragmentation Of Environmental Law, David R. Owen
Mapping, Modeling, And The Fragmentation Of Environmental Law, David R. Owen
David R Owen
In the past forty years, environmental researchers have achieved major advances in electronic mapping and spatially explicit, computer-based simulation modeling. Those advances have turned quantitative spatial analysis—that is, quantitative analysis of data coded to specific geographic locations—into one of the primary modes of environmental research. Researchers now routinely use spatial analysis to explore environmental trends, diagnose problems, discover causal relationships, predict possible futures, and test policy options. At a more fundamental level, these technologies and an associated field of theory are transforming how researchers conceptualize environmental systems. Advances in spatial analysis have had modest impacts upon the practice of environmental …
Critical Habitat And The Challenge Of Regulating Small Harms, David R. Owen
Critical Habitat And The Challenge Of Regulating Small Harms, David R. Owen
David R Owen
This Article investigates how the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the courts are implementing the Endangered Species Act’s prohibition on “adverse modification” of “critical habitat.” That prohibition appears to be one of environmental law’s most ambitious mandates, but its actual meaning and effect are contested. Using a database of over 4,000 “biological opinions,” interviews with agency staff, and a review of judicial decisions considering the adverse modification prohibition, the Article assesses the extent to which the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the courts are relying on the adverse …