Editors' Summary: An array of regulatory and planning tools for protecting biodiversity is available to federal, state, and local governments. In this Article, Robert McKinstry Jr., James McElfish, Michael Jacobson, and Derald Hay examine these tools along with their strengths and limitations. The authors provide examples by way of several case studies of state laws and programs, exposing gaps that these state regulations leave in biodiversity protection. The authors argue that states can best fill these regulatory gaps by exercising their broad authority for planning, which allows for integration and coordination of regulatory mechanisms.
Robert McKinstry Jr. is the Maurice K. Goddard Professor of Forestry and Environmental Resources Conversation at Pennsylvania State University. Prior to his appointment to the Goddard Chair, McKinstry was the CoPartner-in-Charge of the Environmental Practice Group of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, L.L.P., in Philadelphia, Pa., and is currently Of Counsel to that firm. James McElfish is a Senior Attorney at the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), where he directs the Institute's Sustainable Use of Land Program. His publications include, among others, NatureFriendly Ordinances, The Environmental Regulation of Coal Mining, and approximately 50 ELI research reports and scholarly articles. Michael Jacobson is an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist at the Pennsylvania State University School of Forest Resources. His extension, research, and teaching activities are in the area of forest economics, policy, agroforestry, and international forestry. Derald Hay is in his final year as a law student at Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law, pursuing a joint J.D./M.S. degree. His Master's thesis research involves economic aspects of a project with Professor McKinstry seeking to establish a program using habitat banking and revolving funds to conserve the habitat of the threatened bog turtle under the federal Endangered Species Act. He has had the opportunity to work for both the U.S. Department of Justice's Environmental Enforcement Section in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Regional Counsel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [Editors' Note: This Article appears in the book Biodiversity Conservation Handbook, by Robert B. McKinstry Jr., Coreen M. Ripp, and Emily Lisy, published in 2006 by ELI. The book can be ordered by either calling ELI at 800-433-5120 or logging on to the ELI website at http://www.eli.org.]
