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B R I E F S
BIODIVERSITY INSTITUTE UPDATES
B Y E R I N OKUNO J .D. ’ 1 3
The Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy, recipient of
(L-R): Rachael Curran, Professor Lance Long, Brittany Atwell, and Katie
Cleveland Bright
the ABA’s Distinguished Achievement in Environmental
Law and Policy Award, coordinates Stetson Law’s environmental
programs and initiatives.
In June of 2018, the director of Stetson University College of
Law’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy Professor Royal
Gardner received the Society of Wetland Scientists President’s
Service Award. Professor Gardner also has served as the chair of
the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands scientific advisory body
for the 2016–2018 triennium.
Professor Gardner, Foreman Biodiversity Fellow Erin Okuno,
and a team of attorneys filed two amicus curiae briefs on behalf
of the Society of Wetland Scientists in May and July of 2018 to
explain the necessity of considering the scientific basis of the
Clean Water Rule, which defines the geographic coverage of the
Clean Water Act.
Professor Paul Boudreaux did volunteer work for a number of
environmental matters this past year, and Professor Lance Long
worked with then-student volunteer Brittany Atwell J.D. ’18
and Stetson Law alumni Katie Cleveland Bright J.D. ’15 and
Rachael Curran J.D. ’17 to provide research and draft pleadings
in connection with climate change litigation brought by Our
Children’s Trust.
Stetson Law helped organize the 18th International Wildlife
Law Conference, which was hosted in the Netherlands in April
of 2018. The conference featured sessions on transboundary
challenges to wildlife management, wildlife conservation mechanisms
and treaties, wildlife crime, and international and national
issues in wildlife protection, among others. David Macdonald of
Oxford, whose WildCRU was tracking Cecil the lion, was the
keynote speaker.
Thanks to the support of Bonnie Foreman B.A. ’68, the
Biodiversity Institute continues to offer the Edward and Bonnie
Foreman Biodiversity Lecture Series in the fall, with presentations
on payments for ecosystem services, “dirty hands, wet feet”
learning in the environment, and wetland restoration.
For more information about the Institute for Biodiversity Law
and Policy or how to support its programs, please contact Erin
Okuno at okuno@law.stetson.edu or visit stetson.edu/law/
biodiversity.
/biodiversity
link