Republicans Had an Earth Day Plan to Limit Species Protections. It Flopped.

Happy Earth Day to all the species that call it home!🌎

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/c...

Excited to be at Stetson Law today for the 22nd International Wildlife Conference. I opened up the conference with my project on Making America Wild Again (#MAWA)! Talking "functional" de-extinction and Pleistocene rewilding. Draft coming eventually ...

Happy April 2nd! My Essay on the Ten Commandments went live on the Washington and Lee Law Review Online yesterday, but I didn't think you'd believe me yesterday! scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr-online... [1/3]

Thank you for joining us!

#UCDavisLaw #KingHall #EnvironmentalLaw

A close up of two deer that are endangered Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium), a subspecies of the white-tailed deer. These small deer, standing only 24–32 inches tall at the shoulder, have adapted to the island’s mangroves, hardwood hammocks, and freshwater sources. Once nearly extinct, conservation efforts have helped their population recover. They are often seen near roads and residential areas, making wildlife protection crucial. Unique to the Florida Keys, they symbolize the delicate balance of the island’s ecosystem.

Spurious #Subspecies

In this paper, the author examines both the history and future of agency efforts to list subspecies.

Author: Alex Erwin

Read More: spkl.io/63322AITfp
@alexerwin.bsky.social

I'm here at @ucdavislaw.bsky.social to give the keynote at their annual Environmental Law Society conference! The theme this year is Predators in Motion: Law, Land Use, and Ecological Governance. If you happen to be in Davis and want to hear me talk about predator conservation, swing by!

Finally no longer pending on #SSRN. Check it out while it is at least lukewarm …

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I've got plenty of time to update, so let me know if you think I've got something wrong (or right!).

Draft available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

My next article "Spurious Subspecies" is now forthcoming in the Northwestern University Law Review! It deals with the tricky problem of legally defining ESA terms like "subspecies" and "distinct population segment" in the face of novel science and changing administrative law.

Draft ⬇️:

three men are sitting at a bar talking and one of them is wearing a green shirt that says paddy ALT: three men are sitting at a bar talking and one of them is wearing a green shirt that says paddy

I have officially crossed the Rubicon into out-of-touch middle age. I posted this gif yesterday while teaching the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and was met by blank stares ...

And some photos from Ichetucknee Springs that didn't make the official announcement!

UF Law Hosts the 2nd Annual Early Environmental Law Scholars (EELS) Conference - University of Florida Levin College of Law University of Florida Levin College of Law hosted the 2nd Annual Early Environmental Law Scholars (EELS) Conference in Gainesville, Florida, on November

Slow to report, but our 2nd Annual Early Environmental Law Scholars Conference at @uflaw.bsky.social was a massive success! Thanks to everyone that attended or played a part in organizing. #EELS

law.ufl.edu/news/uf-law-...

For anyone that happens to be in Gainesville this afternoon, I'm giving a seminar to the UF Genetics Institute.

For more on why, see here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Conservationists sue to stop Florida's first black bear hunt in a decade Conservationists are suing to stop Florida from holding its first black bear hunt in a decade. State officials approved the plan in August despite strong opposition.

Predator management litigation in the wild!

While I'm sympathetic to some of the claims the bear advocates are making, I think it will be a tough case for them to win.

I wrote about this phenomenon in my recent Utah Law Review article (see ⬇️)

apnews.com/article/bear...

New Faculty at UF Levin College of Law Meet the new faculty at University of Florida Levin College of Law with expertise ranging from constitutional law to corporations and intellectual property.

A week late, but I am nevertheless thrilled to now work at @uflaw.bsky.social. The move even came with a promotion to Associate Professor!

We've got a great group - check out all the other new folks too:
www.law.ufl.edu/new-faculty

To learn more about what works and doesn’t in litigating predator management, check out @alexerwin.bsky.social’s paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Sharing my draft article, Protecting Wild Animal Abundance, forthcoming in Utah Law Review, @sjquinney.bsky.social. It highlights loss of relatively common wild #animals as distinct from the #biodiversity crisis, and discusses why US #environmental #law failed to stop such losses.

For junior environmental law folks, we’re hosting our 2nd Annual Early Environmental Law Scholars (EELS) Conference at @uflaw.bsky.social this Nov 6-8. We’ve got it all: paper talks, teaching workshops, a field trip into nature, and more!

Register here:
www.law.ufl.edu/events-feed/...

Beyond de-extinction and dire wolves, gene editing can help today’s endangered species A legal scholar with a Ph.D. in wildlife genetics explains the promise biotechnology techniques hold for some animals that are currently endangered.

The use of biotechnology for conservation, whether for de-extinction or genetic augmentation of existing species, promises solutions to otherwise intractable problems in protecting endangered animals. A law professor explains: buff.ly/MfRdVg3
By @alexerwin.bsky.social @fiu.bsky.social

Beyond de-extinction and dire wolves, gene editing can help today’s endangered species A legal scholar with a Ph.D. in wildlife genetics explains the promise biotechnology techniques hold for some animals that are currently endangered.

The use of biotechnology for conservation, whether for de-extinction or genetic augmentation of existing species, promises solutions to otherwise intractable problems in protecting endangered animals. A law professor explains: buff.ly/MfRdVg3
By @alexerwin.bsky.social @fiu.bsky.social

I wrote this, so you should totally read it!

Beyond de-extinction and dire wolves, gene editing can help today’s endangered species A legal scholar with a Ph.D. in wildlife genetics explains the promise biotechnology techniques hold for some animals that are currently endangered.

Beyond de-extinction and dire wolves, gene editing can help today’s endangered species buff.ly/MfRdVg3

Beyond de-extinction and dire wolves, gene editing can help today’s endangered species A legal scholar with a Ph.D. in wildlife genetics explains the promise biotechnology techniques hold for some animals that are currently endangered.

More of my thoughts on dire wolves, red wolves, and biotech for conservation. Thanks to @us.theconversation.com for editing and publishing.

theconversation.com/beyond-de-ex...

Congrats to the FIU Law @fiu.bsky.social
Class of 2025 graduates! This was the first group I taught as 1L’s, so I feel like I’m graduating with y’all this year!

Rebecca Bratspies named Inaugural Oliver Houck Chair in Environmental Law Tulane University Law School News

Some big (personal) Earth Day news. I am deeply honored to be named as the first holder of the Oliver Houck Chair in Environmental Law at Tulane. Excited to join the fabulous faculty there law.tulane.edu/news/rebecca...

Taught my final class at FIU this morning. My natural resources law students made it extra-special with a UF-themed goodbye care package. It’s been a wonderful 3 years, and the students are what I will miss the most.

The administration today announced it's rescinding the regulatory definition of "harm" under the #ESA, which includes destroying endangered species' habitat.
public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-06746.pdf

And that’s all a shame. Because gene editing is a technology with significant potential for conservation. Not as a silver bullet or as an excuse to conserve less or destroy more, but as one tool in the conservation arsenal. 5/5

The Administration can use de-extinction or gene editing as a fig leaf for their cuts to the ESA, but that line of argument is not based on the reality of the science or the purpose of the ESA. And they are going to make those cuts regardless. 4/5