Variation on a Theme: Expanding the Public Trust Doctrine to Include Protection of Wildlife

Abstract

Western society in general, and in particular, the American legal system which reflects society's values, tends to categorize to facilitate decision making. Modern resource management unfortunately makes an all too often similar mistake. Thus, a forest is transformed into separate resources: trees, recreation values, water, wildlife, domestic animal forage, etc. This Article proposes the need for a different approach to resource management and regulation and argues that an expanded public trust doctrine provides a legal, practical, and more holistic means for decision making that affects wildlife and wildlife habitat.