Environmental and Natural Resources Law

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CONSERVATION TRUST

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL DEMOCRACY

NATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL SOVEREIGNTY

OCEANS, COASTS, AND WATERSHEDS

SUSTAINABLE LAND USE

The ENR Program's projects allow faculty and students to integrate traditional course work, through the law school curriculum, with specialized study in each of the project’s subject areas. The Native Environmental Sovereignty Project explores the intersection of tribal sovereignty with the protection of tribal natural resources. Faculty leaders are Rennard Strickland and Mary Wood.

Upcoming Events

Recent Accomplishments

Unveiling of a portrait of Chief Joseph, February 1, 2008. The portrait, a labor of love by artist James Gronsand, was honored in an unveiling ceremony by the words of Dean Margie Paris, Professor Dom Vetri, Professor Mary Wood, Arnold Eyle of the Yakama Nation, and ENR Fellow Hillary Renick. The portrait will be on loan to the University of Oregon School of Law for two years.

(Left to Right) David Liberty, Mary
Wood, James Gronsand, Arnold Elye,
Hillary Renick, Margie Paris, Dom Vetri

ENR Fellow Hillary Renick

Annual Rennard Strickland Lecture Series, September 21, 2007, Professor Mary Wood, "EPA's Protection of Tribal Harvests: Braiding the Agency's Mission"

Cherokee Nation History Course, September 7-9, 2007 and September 21-24, 2007

"Tribes as Trustees Again: The Emerging Tribal Role in the Global Conservation Trust Movement," Workshop, April 6, 2007

Fellows

John-Michael Partesotti
A third year law student, John-Michael Partesotti would like to eventually participate in the policy work of Indian tribes in the Northwest, teaming up with government agencies, environmental activists, and others to promote greater tribal management over natural resources on the reservations. He is interested in using tools such as the public trust doctrine, the Indian trust doctrine, and the power of tribal self-determination to assert the Indians' right to protect their precious resources, which include the air, land, water, and wildlife.

Naomi Rowden
A second year law student, Naomi is focusing on environmental law, Indian law and wildlife law. Incorporating her undergraduate studies in philosophy and her degree in horticulture, she is interested in how people interact with the natural world, the relationships different cultures have with the land and how law can influence our relationship to the land.

Faculty

Rennard Strickland
A legal historian of Osage and Cherokee heritage, Professor Strickland pioneered the introduction of Indian law into university curriculum. He has published over 25 books on Indian law topics and is frequently cited for his work as revision editor of the Handbook of Federal Indian Law. Professor Strickland has been involved in the resolution of a number of significant Indian law cases and founded the Center for the Study of American Indian Law and Policy at the University of Oklahoma. He served as president of the Association of American Law Schools, chair of the Law School Admissions Council, and former dean of the University of Oregon School of Law. Professor Strickland brings a rich array of Indian law courses to the environmental curriculum.

Mary Wood
A natural resources law/federal Indian law/property law professor, Mary Wood is studying domestic climate litigation involving states and federal agencies. Her focus is on the politicization of agency regulation in this area and the viability of judicial review. She is exploring common law claims brought by states and tribes against the federal government for its failure to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Professor Wood is a co-author of a national textbook in natural resources law and authoring a forthcoming book, Nature's Trust, in which she argues that the global atmosphere is a property asset owned by all nations of the world as sovereign trustees who hold a duty of protection towards future generations.

Summary Sheet

For a full summary of the events and scholarship of the NESP, click here.