A unique partnership among the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cooperative Extension and The James E. Rogers College of Law, the mission of the Natural Resources User Law & Policy Center is to address the underrepresented legal needs of the natural resource community in Arizona and the American West. The Center’s innovative law and policy solutions and support are aimed at promoting the economic and sustainable use of natural resources. And it provides students the environment and opportunity to learn and gain experience by actively working on the real-time needs of natural resource users and the community.
Center Objectives
The focus is inspiring and training the next generation of natural resource professionals, lawyers, agency heads, politicians, judges — anyone who will be making natural resources policy and legal decisions in the coming years. This happens in a variety of ways, including:
- Providing students with a hands-on approach to learning by serving the natural resources community.
- Featuring natural resource experts in classroom exercises that promote active learning on timely and relevant topics.
- Staffing a public interest law clinic with law students (with guidance from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) to advise on matters involving the regulation and use of natural resources.
- Sharing the history, customs and culture of the West by teaching traditions deeply rooted in natural resource reliance, while focusing on modern solutions.
- Forging partnerships with and amongst natural resource users and the greater community.
Student Programs
To provide students with hands-on education and real-world experience, the center invites law students and students from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to staff its Natural Resource Use and Management Clinic. The public interest clinic handles legal matters pertaining to water, endangered species, public lands, climate change, tribal lands and resources, and the myriad natural resource challenges that exist in Arizona and the American West.
The Center also offers an academic program for undergraduate students featuring shared courses, including Introduction to Agricultural Law and Policy for the Modern-Day Natural Resource User, in which students learn the fundamental legal and public policy concepts associated with modern day agricultural industries, such as commodities markets, natural resources in their raw form, market forces and more.