[APWG] The Butterfly Effect: Conservation

[James Olmsted]

Dear APWG Colleagues:
 
I am sending with  this email a link to an article I recently wrote
addressing how conservation easements might deal with climate change and
invasive species, including invasive plant species.  The abstract below sets
out the main issues that are covered in the article, entitled, "The
Butterfly Effect: Conservation
Easements, Climate Change, and Invasive Species."
 
While this article does not pretend to have all the answers, or any answers
for that matter, it serves to highlight the urgency with which the United
States land trust community must collaborate with scientists and
environmental philosophers to begin to develop multi-institutional scale
policy decisions regarding how to address newly emergent species in
conservation easement preserves.
 
The article can be downloaded for free at:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1616364.   
 
Abstract:
This Article explains that one of the consequences of climate change will be
migrations of species from their native habitats to newer habitats,
typically to the north, with climates similar to those in which such species
evolved. These in-migrating species will in many cases be invasive, forcing
the native species to out-migrate or be driven to extinction, thereby
causing biodiversity loss. As many of these disrupted ecosystems may be
protected by perpetual conservation easements, the Article discusses the
negative legal consequences of incursions by non-native species on these
existing conservation easements. Accordingly, the Article suggests a number
of changes that can be made to future conservation easements to help insure
their protection of land in perpetuity and to better protect species and
their habitats from the effects of climate change-caused migrations.
 
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
 
Best regards,
 
James L. Olmsted
 
 
James L. Olmsted, Esq. 
Conservation & Preservation Counsel, L.L.C.
Adjunct Faculty Univ. of Oregon Law School
214 Trailside Loop 
Eugene, OR 97405 
Tel.: 541.554.3665
Fax: 541.345.8298
olmsted at landprotect.com 
www.landprotect.com 
 
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Download my research on my SSRN Author page: 
http://ssrn.com/author=1488037  
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State Bar Admissions:
California (active), Nevada (active),
Oregon (active) and Washington (active).
 
Federal Court Admissions:
U.S. District Court-Oregon
U.S. District Court-Nevada
 
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