Public Lands

Murder, Pollution, Illegal Drugs & Our Public Lands

The murder this past weekend of Fort Bragg, California City Councilman Jere Melo puts an all-too-human face on a long-festering environmental crisis. Melo was shot and killed in a remote area in Mendocino County by a squatter who was reportedly growing marijuana on forest lands there. Councilman Melo, whose day job was to manage 150,000 …

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The Environmental Issue in the Presidential Race

With the partial exception of Mitt Romney, all of the Republican presidential candidates are negative about EPA.  According to the NY TImes, Opposition to regulation and skepticism about climate change have become tenets of Republican orthodoxy, but they are embraced with extraordinary intensity this year because of the faltering economy, high fuel prices, the Tea …

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Parking in Los Angeles Creeps into the 21st Century

The Los Angeles Times reports that the City has decided to inject at least a little rationality into its parking policy: in April, the City will begin ExpressPark, which will focus on a 4.5 square-mile zone in the city’s downtown, and will set parking rates based upon demand. It will use sensors and other technology …

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More on California Environmental Leader & Coastal Advocate Peter Douglas

Legal Planet colleague Jonathan Zasloff has previously written about the recently-announced retirement of long-time California Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas.  I’d like to add a few additional comments about Peter, my long-time mentor, client and friend. Peter Douglas has devoted the past four decades of his incredibly rich and active life to the cause of …

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Gifford Pinchot’s Birthday

Gifford Pinchot (the final “t” is silent) was born on August 11, 1865.  He was responsible for founding the Yale School of Forestry, which remains a major center for environmental research and teaching today.  Like Chief Justice John Marshall, he is also considered the founding father of an institution even though he wasn’t the institution’s …

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Nevada Re-Discovers the Public Trust Doctrine

The Nevada Supreme Court was the source of a pleasant surprise earlier this month, when it issued a decision formally “adopting” the public trust doctrine as Nevada law. The opinion, Lawrence v. Clark County, involved a proposed transfer of land in and adjacent to the Colorado River near Laughlin, Nevada to Clark County officials. Nevada …

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Marcilynn Burke appointed Acting Assistant Secretary

Marcilynn Burke, who is on leave from her environmental law teaching gig at the University of Houston, has been named Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Department of Interior.  Burke has been at Interior since August 2009, when she was appointed Deputy Director for Policy and Programs at the Bureau of …

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Unexpected Environmental Heroes

Mammoth Lakes is one of the more popular resort areas in California’s Sierra Nevada, and also one of the more beautiful.  It’s popular in part because it as at one of the low points in the Sierra Nevada, allowing for relatively easy backcountry access to both the east and west sides of the mountains.  (That …

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But Will You Love My Energy Source in the Morning?

In the wake of cataclysmic energy disasters occurring on opposite sides of the globe, some interesting regional and national reflections are currently underway that may–or may not–alter long-term energy futures in the U.S. and abroad. One development this week that drew surprisingly little public attention is that no less a personage than the Prime Minister of …

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In Memoriam: David Getches

We are very sorry to report the death of David Getches, who was the Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado School of Law.  His fields were water law, public land law, environmental law, and Indian law.  Professor Getches several books on water law and one on Indiana law. …

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