Fischman Leads Refuge Law & Policy Field
Recognized for contributions to scholarship and on-the-ground conservation, Professor Robert Fischman's research is leading the way in wildlife refuge law and policy, strengthening connections
between environmental law's pollution control and resource management fields.
For 16 years, his articles have heightened the importance of refuges in the legal academy. His book, National Wildlife Refuges: Coordinating a Conservation System through Law (Island Press 2003), spurred interdisciplinary collaboration on issues of ecological integrity.
Fischman's work is still making waves in environmental law research. This spring, he contributed to a U.S. Climate Change Science Program report on refuge system adaptation strategies. His article, "Managing Biological Integrity, Diversity, and Environmental Health in the National Wildlife Refuges," rated among the top 20 environmental law articles published in 2005. And, his new casebook, Federal Public Land and Resources Law (forthcoming 2007), will include for the first time the new legal and biological challenges presented by global warming.
Shaping environmental law for the future
Fischman's next project: an intense look at reframing one of America's legal touchstones—historic benchmarks in environmental law. Bringing law and science together, he's seeking an answer to one big question: Moving into a new ecological era, what will be the new standard?
"Restoration of historic conditions is a common way of articulating ecological integrity in terms of the law. Climate change presents a tremendous challenge to that concept," Fischman said. "It may be impossible to maintain allegiance to historic conditions."
Learn more about Indiana Law's program in environmental law.