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Full-Text Articles in Law
Keeping Track Of Conservation, Jessica Owley
Keeping Track Of Conservation, Jessica Owley
Journal Articles
Throughout the world, governments require land protection in exchange for development permits. Unfortunately, oftentimes scant attention has been paid to these land protection programs after development. Agencies and permit applicants agree on mitigation rules, but there appears to be little follow-up. When we do not know where conservation is occurring and cannot determine the rules of mitigation projects, the likelihood that they will be successful or enforced diminishes. I journeyed to California in search of answers by tracing four mitigation plans associated with the Federal Endangered Species Act. While I anticipated some difficulties, the tale is more alarming than expected. …
From Citizen Suits To Conservation Easements: The Increasing Private Role In Public Permit Enforcement, Jessica Owley
From Citizen Suits To Conservation Easements: The Increasing Private Role In Public Permit Enforcement, Jessica Owley
Journal Articles
The past 40 years have seen an increase in the involvement of private actors in environmental law. One of the best-known (and arguably best-loved) methods for public involvement is the citizen suit. This popular method of public enforcement of environmental permits (among other things) has been joined by the use of conservation easements. Conservation easements are increasingly used to meet permit mitigation requirements. When private nonprofits hold the exacted conservation easements, they assume the role of permit enforcers. It is their job to ensure that conservation easement terms are complied with, giving them oversight and control over one of the …
Changing Property In A Changing World: A Call For The End Of Perpetual Conservation Easements, Jessica Owley
Changing Property In A Changing World: A Call For The End Of Perpetual Conservation Easements, Jessica Owley
Journal Articles
Increasing environmental problems, including those associated with climate change, highlight the need for land conservation. Dissatisfaction with public methods of environmental protection has spurred conservationists to pursue private options. One of the most common private land conservation tools is the conservation easement. At first blush, this relatively new servitude appears to provide a creative method for achieving widespread conservation. Instead, however, conservation easements often fail to accommodate the reality of our current environmental problems. These perpetual (often private) agreements lack flexibility, making them inappropriate tools for environmental protection in the context of climate change and our evolving understanding of conservation …