When the idea of a clinic bringing ecology and law students together to serve as support for land conservation efforts was introduced, there wasn’t anything like it. Science and policy are inextricably linked, but there aren’t many other programs like Steffney Thompson’s Land Conservation Clinic at UGA’s School of Law.
“I think this particular clinic is unique in the country,” said Thompson, director of the clinic. “You can’t do land conservation without knowing and understanding some of the science, so we need to bring in these other voices and disciplines so that we can do our job well. That allows us to play into this really rich field where we can talk about science and policy.”
The clinic is a cooperative effort between the School of Law and the Odum School of Ecology and works at the nexus of law, science and policy to support and enhance land conservation. It builds on the Environmental Law Practicum course started by Laurie Fowler, senior public service associate emeritus, ecology associate dean and policy director for the River Basin Center.
Seeing the need that land conservation organizations had for support, Fowler secured funding for a clinic originally known as the Environmental Law Practicum, laying the groundwork for what the clinic is today.
In 2023, Steffney Thompson took over direction of the program. Thompson, an RBC affiliate, has ample experience in the conservation space, having served as executive director of the Oconee River Land Trust, which protects 43,000 acres of land across the state.
This year, Thompson’s second year teaching the clinic, student interest has been high, with over twice as many applicants as there were spots for enrollment. Thompson said that although all of her students come from different backgrounds, they all share in common an “attachment to land in some form, and a desire to learn more about the tool used to protect it.”
The tool: The conservation easement, a humble yet surprisingly powerful legal agreement that protects land for future generations.
Land conservation is a way of interpreting the value of land not only in the present, but for future generations. Before land can be conserved, the agricultural, ecological, cultural and environmental value of any given piece of property must be assessed.
The ecology students evaluate the land, determining if there is any area of special interest, such as hydrologic or geologic feature.
There also must be legal protections in place for scientific research to have a larger impact on environmental knowledge. The law students offer their expert perspectives on the language used in the easement.
But conservation easements aren’t the only focus of the clinic. Students also work to protect waterways through education and legislation.
“Every time you protect land, you protect water,” Thompson said.
Emily Chalfin, an ecology graduate student in the Integrative Conservation and Sustainability program, enrolled in the clinic in the spring of 2024, the year after the Supreme Court reached a verdict in the Sackett v. EPA case.
Wetlands, despite their lack of “direct surface connection” to more obvious bodies of water, interact and exchange with them through groundwater. Even so, wetlands are now left largely unprotected.
A lack of federal protection means that the responsibility of managing wetlands falls to the states and, in the case of Georgia, the county.
“So, if you wanted to develop a wetland or cover it with concrete, you no longer have a lot of that red tape in the way,” Chalfin said.
Chalfin and her colleagues worked with Matt Shudtz , a lawyer with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government and UGA’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, to assemble information on existing wetland protection ordinance to help inform the development of model ordinances for Georgia.
The law students laid the legal foundation for the draft by making sure the language was sound, and the ecology students provided the scientific backing. The project culminated in last May’s Local Wetlands Protection Workshop, a day-long conference organized with the River Basin Center and attended by county and municipal government officials and representatives of watershed NGOs.
The struggle to protect wetlands is still ongoing, but Chalfin said she gained valuable experience in water advocacy through the clinic.
Thompson plans for her students to dive into unique issues surrounding easements, such as condemnation. A condemnation of a property is the only scenario that can extinguish an easement, so it’s important to know how to respond to that scenario.
Her students are also working on drafting an easement for a local heritage tree program. If a tree is of a high enough historic value, or if it has become a landmark of the community, it may be protected in perpetuity under certain counties’ programs.
Although the clinic can be intensive at times, the impact students are able to make and the experience they gain is invaluable, according to Thompson.
“My students are always doing, working and learnin