Licensing of hydroelectric projects by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under the Federal Power Act (FPA) materially affects stream flows on rivers throughout the nation. Often overlooked, FERC licensing will gain prominence in the next decade as hundreds of projects must be...

This article was an early assessment of the operation and significance of the wetlands protection permit program authorized by section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The article was written five years after the courts had ruled that the jurisdiction of the program was broader than that of program...

This article examines the pioneering Northwest Power Act of 1980, which revolutionized electric power planning in the Northwest and called for a fish and wildlife restoration program to compensate for losses sustained at the hands of Columbia Basin dams. The power plan gave priority to...

Clyde Martz published the first natural resources law casebook in 1951, combining the previously discrete subjects of water law, mining law, and oil and gas law. Martz relied almost exclusively on case excerpts and emphasized the creation of private rights in natural resources. Over the...

The protection of federally owned wild lands, including, designated wilderness areas, has long been a cardinal element of the American character. For a variety of reasons, designating wild lands for protection under the Wilderness Act has proved difficult, increasingly so in recent years. Thus,...

The law and policy of salmon protection and restoration are complex, and matters surrounding salmon implicate topics as varied as Indian treaty fishing rights, dam management and removal, international treaties, predator con­trol, and climate change. Pacific Salmon Law and the Environment...

This article explains the numerous environmental protections contained in an unlikely statute, the Federal Power Act, first enacted in 1920. Federally licensed hydropower projects are often the largest influences on streamflows in watersheds, so making the projects environmentally compatible is...

Among the most innovative provisions of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 were those called for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)to designate public lands as “areas of critical environmental concern” (ACECs) for protective management. In fact, FLPMA made it quite...

Chile, whose public has experienced widespread dissatisfaction with Chilean environmental policies, seems poised to use the ongoing redrafting of its constitution to entrench the public trust doctrine in its fundamental charter. The ancient doctrine, emanating from Roman law and reflected in the...

Pacific salmon, the signature species of the Pacific Northwest, have declined across their range for well over a century, due to a myriad of human-caused effects on their habitat and the fish themselves. Restoration efforts—some successful, some halting—began earnest in the late 20th...