Six-author team awarded ASU Morrison Prize for Land Conservation Article

PHOENIX, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Land conservation may seem like a simple enough formula: set aside land, then protect it. But climate change is complicating land conservation practices because of how it alters land over time. In particular, it is raising new questions about perpetual conservation easements — land preservation tools routinely employed by nonprofit land trusts and private donors.

A six-author team that conducted an unprecedented analysis of the structuring of conservation easements in the face of climate change has been awarded the 2019 Morrison Prize, a recognition established in 2015 and administered through the program on Law and Sustainability at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

The Arizona State University Morrison Prize contest awards a $10,000 prize annually to the authors of the most impactful sustainability-related legal academic article published in North America during the previous year. The prize is named after its benefactor, Richard N. Morrison, who is also a co-founder of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at ASU.

"We were delighted and honored to learn that our interdisciplinary research was awarded this year's Morrison Prize," said co-author Jessica Owley, director of the environmental law program at University at Buffalo – State University of New York. "ASU's reputation in environmental law and sustainability gives this award additional esteem and illustrates why the Morrison Prize has become the sought-after prize in our field."

The winning article — titled "Climate change challenges for land conservation: Rethinking conservation easements, strategies, and tools" — was co-written by:

• Federico Cheever, a professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law who died during the final stages of the project, and to whom the article is dedicated;
• Adena R. Rissman, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology;
• M. Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist for the World Wide Fund for Nature;
• Barton H. Thompson Jr., a professor of natural resources law at Stanford Law School; and
• W. William Weeks, director of the Conservation Law Clinic at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law.

The Prize's winning authors analyzed more than 360 conservation easements (landowner agreement with a land trust or government agency to limit use of the land to further conservation efforts) and interviewed more than 70 land conservation professionals, finding that over-reliance on perpetual versions of these easements could actually thwart long-term conservation efforts. The article outlines steps organizations can take to improve conservation outcomes in their structuring of conservation easements.

This year's winning paper exemplifies the type of valuable work that the program and Prize seek to encourage in law schools across the United States. "As in past years, this year's winning paper was one that meaningfully advanced our understanding of how to better structure laws and policies to support and drive sustainability," said Professor Troy Rule faculty director of the Law and Sustainability program at ASU Law.

"We are particularly honored to receive ASU's prize because it recognizes the importance of sustainability and finding a way to make conservation work in the face of climate change," Thompson said.

The winning authors will accept the group's prize on May 10 at ASU Law when they give a presentation at the fifth annual Sustainability Conference of American Legal Educators.

About Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University is one of the country's preeminent law schools. Ranked a top 8 public law school and #27 overall nationally by U.S. News & World Report, ASU Law is a leading provider of comprehensive and personalized legal education. The law school ranks Top 20 in the nation for job placement and No. 1 in the state for student outcomes. Located in a state-of-the-art building in downtown Phoenix, ASU Law is steps away from the legal, political, and economic heart of Arizona.

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SOURCE Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University

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