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Abstract

Managing natural resources involves political, cultural, economic, and ecological challenges. Much has been written about the increased stresses posed by a changing global climate, increased population, and accelerating development. How will these stresses affect resources on our public and private lands and waters? What human responses can help both humans and ecosystems to adapt to changing conditions? How can degraded resources be restored? What are the best ways to frame these issues in order to effectively inform policymaking and promote actions that will protect humans and the environment? What legal framework provides adequate flexibility to deal with an uncertain world while protecting fragile resources? The University of Nebraska College of Law hosted the "Resilience & Environmental Law Reform Symposium" (the "Symposium") on September 25, 2008, to consider these issues. The Symposium addressed the management of public natural resources, which include land and water resources that are under the ownership or control of the federal or state government; and, to a lesser extent, private resources. The five papers presented at the Symposium, drafts of the articles published in this issue, considered the role that law and the concepts of resilience and adaptive management play in shaping management practices. Topics ranged from general thoughts about the relationship between sustainability and environmental law to case studies regarding how law has affected the restoration of particular sites and specific proposals for legal reform.

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