Michelle Bryan
Michelle Bryan

In the wake of an armed occupation at an Oregon wildlife refuge, a lecture at the University of Louisville鈥檚 Brandeis School of Law will address the importance of teamwork to determine how public lands are used.

The free, public lecture, 鈥淟earning Both Directions: How Improved Federal-Local Land Use Coordination Can Quiet the Call for Federal Lands Transfers,鈥 is part of the law school鈥檚 Boehl Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Policy series. The talk will be 6 p.m. Feb. 17 in Room 275 at the law school.

, a law professor and co-director of the Land Use and Natural Resources Clinic at the University of Montana鈥檚 Alexander Blewett III School of Law, will give the talk. Her research focuses on the relationship between land and water use, planning in an age of climate change, the balance of environmental and land use rights and the role of public trust in water use.

鈥淏oth federal land agencies and local governments are failing to engage in the type of land use planning necessary for strong federal-local collaboration,鈥 Bryan said. 鈥淚f meaningful collaboration became the standard practice, some of the underlying furor over federal lands management could subside.鈥

Tony Arnold, who holds the Boehl Chair in Property and Land Use at the Brandeis School of Law, said Bryan鈥檚 topic is timely.

鈥淓veryone鈥檚 heard about the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon,鈥 Arnold said. 鈥淏ut behind this incident is a deeper set of issues about how federal agencies and local communities work together or against each other over land use planning and management, especially in the American West.聽 Professor Bryan鈥檚 research offers new ideas to achieve better collaboration and better land use.鈥

The Boehl lecture聽is supported by the Herbert Boehl Fund, the Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund and the Center for Land Use and Environmental Responsibility. For more information, contact Arnold at 502-852-6388 or tony.arnold@louisville.edu.

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Cindy Hess
Cindy Hess has more than 30 years of experience in communications, marketing and investor relations, including more than a decade at UofL. She is "sort of" retired but happy to come back to the Office of Communications and Marketing to help with special projects and assignments.