Federalism, Preemption, and the Nationalization of American Wildlife Management: The Dynamic Balance Between State and Federal Authority

Environmental law expert Lowell E. Baier reveals how over centuries the federal government slowly preempted the states’ authority over managing their residential wildlife. Baier describes how state authority over its resident wildlife established in the 1600s for the food security of its citizens, has slowly eroded under the pressures of nationalism driven by the forces of industry, commerce and technology; how federalism has become unbalanced; and, how preemption became the legal tool used to extend the reach of the federal government invading state sovereignty over its resident and migratory wildlife. In doing so, he educates elected officials, wildlife students, and environmentalists in the precedents that led to the current state of wildlife management, and how a constructive environment can be fostered at all levels of government to improve our nation’s wildlife and biodiversity.

Lowell E. Baier is an attorney and a legal and environmental historian and author. Baier holds a B.A. from Valparaiso University, a J.D. from Indiana University and has received two honorary doctorates. He’s worked in Washington, D.C. throughout his 56-year career as a tireless advocate for natural resources and wildlife conservation. Throughout his career, he has observed and documented wildlife and its habitats on extensive treks and expeditions in the mountains and wilderness regions across the North American Continent, the Pamirs and Caucasus of Russia, and Mongolia’s Gobi Desert and Altai Mountains, providing him with first hand observations of wildlife and man’s interactions across the globe. He was recognized as the Conservationist of the Year by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2008, and again in 2010 and 2013 by two different national organizations.