Holly Doremus, Professor
NSF Training Grant on Biological Invasions at Davis

Before entering law school, Holly Doremus conducted basic research on the metabolic pathways of plants. She enjoyed the puzzle-solving aspect of scientific research, but came to see it as an intellectual game, remote from the public policy issues of the day. Environmental law, Doremus finds, offers the same sort of intellectual stimulation as science, with a more direct connection to the policy-making arena. Environmental law introduces students to the intricacies of detailed statutory and regulatory analysis and interpretation. It requires them to consider how data and concepts from very different fields, such as the physical and biological sciences, can or should be integrated into the legal structure. In addition, it illustrates the difficulties inherent in translating vague general principles into specific rules. Nearly everyone agrees that clean air and water are worthy goals. Achieving consensus on the details, such as who should set the standards, the appropriate basis for those standards, and who should pay the costs, is much tougher. Confronting these difficult policy issues helps students understand, explain, and justify their own views on controversial topics.

Career Highlights

U.C. Davis Chancellor's Fellow

Law Clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1991-92. Visiting Professor of Law, UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall), fall 2004; Visiting Professor of Law and Natural Resources, UC Berkeley, 2005-2006;

Six articles selected for reprinting in the Land Use and Environment Law Review, an annual compilation of the leading articles of the year.

Member of the Committee on Endangered and Threatened Species in the Platte River Basin, National Research Council. Member of the Committee to Assess the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Methods of Analysis and Peer Review for Water Resources Project Planning: Adaptive Management for Resources Stewardship.

Education

B.S. Biology, Trinity College (Conn.), 1981<br />
Ph.D. Plant Biology, Cornell University, 1986<br />
J.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1991

Special Interests: Environmental Law, Property, Land Use Law, Law and Science

Publications

Books

Environmental Policy Law: Problems, Cases and Readings, (4th ed.) (with Thomas J. Schoenbaum &amp; Ronald H. Rosenberg) (Foundation Press 2004).

Articles

Science, Judgment, and Controversy in Natural Resource Regulation, __ Public Land and Resources Law Review __ (forthcoming 2005) (with A. Dan Tarlock)

Science Plays Defense: Natural Resource Management in the Bush Administration, __ Ecology Law Quarterly __ (forthcoming 2005)

The Purposes, Effects, and Future of the Endangered Species Act's Best Available Science Mandate, 34 Environmental Law 397-450 (2004), excerpted in Laitos, Cole, Wood, and Zellmer (eds.), Natural Resources Law (West, 2005)

A Policy Portfolio Approach to Biodiversity Protection on Private Land, 6 Environmental Science and Policy 217-232 (2003)

Shaping the Future: The Dialectic of Law and Environmental Values, 37 U.C. Davis Law Review 233-268, 27 Environs 233-268 (2003)

Takings and Transitions, 19 Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law 1-46 (2003), reprinted in 36 Land Use and Environment Law Review (2005)

Constitutive Law and Environmental Policy, 22 Stanford Environmental Law Journal 295-378 (2003).

Fish, Farms and the Clash of Cultures in the Klamath Basin, 30 Ecology Law Quarterly 279-350 (2003) (with A. Dan Tarlock) , reprinted in 35 Land Use &amp; Environment Law Review ___ (2004).

Biodiversity and the Challenge of Saving the Ordinary, Idaho L. Rev. 325 (2002) , reprinted in 34 Land Use &amp; Environment Law Review ___ (2003).

Adaptive Management, the Endangered Species Act, and the Institutional Challenges of "New Age" Environmental Protection, 41 Washburn L. J. 50 (2001).

Why Listing May Be Forever: Perspectives on Delisting Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, 15 Conservation Biology 1258 (2001) (with Joel Pagel).

Water, Population Growth and Endangered Species in the West, 72 U. Colo. L. Rev. 361 (2001), excerpted in Rasband, Squillace, and Salzman, Natural Resources Law and Policy (Foundation Press, 2004).

The Special Importance of Ordinary Places, 23 Environs 3 (2000), excerpted in Dale D. Goble &amp; Eric T. Freyfogle, Wildlife Law: Cases and Materials (Foundation Press 2002).

Delisting Endangered Species: An Aspirational Goal, Not a Realistic Expectation, 30 Envtl. L. Rep. 10434 (2000).

The Rhetoric and Reality of Nature Protection: Toward a New Discourse, 57 Wash. &amp; Lee L. Rev. 11 (2000).

Nature, Knowledge and Profit: The Yellowstone Bioprospecting Controversy and the Core Purposes of America's National Parks, 26 Ecology L.Q. 401 (1999).

Restoring Endangered Species: The Importance of Being Wild, 23 Harvard Envtl. L. Rev. 1 (1999), reprinted in 31 Land Use &amp; Envt. L. Rev. ___ (2000).

Preserving Citizen Participation in the Era of Reinvention: The Endangered Species Act Example, 25 Ecology L. Q. 707 (1999), excerpted in Stephen M. Johnson, Economics, Equity, and the Environment (Environmental Law Institute, 2004).

When the Truth Hurts: Endangered Species Policy on Private Land with Incomplete Information, 35 J. Envtl. Econ. &amp; Mgmt. 22 (1998) (with Stephen Polasky), reprinted in Stephen Polasky, ed., Economics and Biodiversity Conservation (Ashgate Publishing, 2002).

Listing Decisions Under the Endangered Species Act: Why Better Science Isn't Always Better Policy, 75 Wash. U. L.Q. 1029 (1997), reprinted in 30 Land Use &amp; Envt. L. Rev. ___(1999), and excerpted in Dale D. Goble &amp; Eric T. Freyfogle, Wildlife Law: Cases and Materials (Foundation Press 2002).

Endangered Species Conservation on Private Land, XV(3) Contemp. Econ. Pol'y 66 (1997) (with Stephen Polasky &amp; Bruce Rettig).

Patching the Ark: Improving Legal Protection of Biological Diversity, 18 Ecology, L.Q. 265-333 (1991), reprinted in 23 Land Use and Envtl. L. Rev. 465 (1992).

Chapters

Using Science in a Political World: The Importance of Transparency in Natural Resource Regulation, in Wendy E. Wagner and Rena Steinzor, Rescuing Science from Politics,(Cambridge Univ. Press, forthcoming 2005)

The Story of Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill: A Little Fish, a Pointless Dam, a Stubborn Agency, and a Narrow Escape for a Broad New Law, in Oliver A. Houck &amp; Richard J. Lazarus, eds., Environmental Law Stories: An In-Depth Look at Ten Leading Cases on Environmental Law (forthcoming, Foundation Press 2005)

The Endangered Species Act at 30: A Success with Room for Improvement, in Dale Goble et al., eds., The Endangered Species Act at 30: Lessons and Prospects (forthcoming, Island Press 2005)

Crossing Boundaries: Commentary on The Law at the Waters Edge, in Wet Growth: Should Water Law Control Land Use?, Craig Anthony Arnold, ed. (Environmental Law Institute, 2005)

Contracts for Bioprospecting: The Yellowstone National Park Experience, in Microbial Diversity and Bioprospecting, A.T. Bull, ed. (American Society for Microbiology Press, 2004).

Private Property Interests, Wildlife Restoration, and Competing Visions of a Western Eden, in Robert B. Keiter (ed.), Reclaiming the Native Home of Hope: Community, Ecology, and the American West (1998); reprinted in 18 J. Land, Resources &amp; Envtl. L. 41 (1998).

Other Publications

What People Want from Wolves (Book Review), 18 Conservation Biology 1163-1164 (2004)

Symposium Introduction, Environmental Ethics and Environmental Law: Harmony, Dissonance, Cacophony, or Irrelevance? 37 U.C. Davis Law Review 1-11, 27 Environs 1-11 (2003)

Agriculture and the Environment: Introduction to the Conference Issue, 25 Environs 47 (2002).

Review of Regulatory Takings: Law, Economics, and Politics, by William A. Fischel, 19 Legal Stud. F. 429 (1995).

Purification and Characterization of a Specific Nucleoside Diphosphatase from Soybean Root Nodules, 87 Plant Physiol. 41 (1988) (with D. Blevins).

Nucleoside Diphosphatase and 5'-Nucleotidase Activities of Soybean Root Nodules and Other Tissues, 87 Plant Physiol. 36 (1988) (with D. Blevins).

Site of Synthesis of the Enzymes of the Pyrimidine Biosynthetic Pathway in Oat (Avena sativa L.) Leaves, 83 Plant Physiol. 657 (1987) (with A. Jagendorf).

Organization of the Pathway of de novo Pyrimidine Nucleotide Biosynthesis in Pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Progress No. 9) Leaves, 250 Archives of Biochem. &amp; Biophysics 112 (1986).

Subcellular Localization of the Pathway of de novo Pyrimidine Nucleotide Biosynthesis in Pea Leaves, 79 Plant Physiol. 856 (1985) (with A. Jagendorf).