Interdisciplinary Interactions

February has been a busy but exciting month for me. I have agreed to a few speaking engagement and have found all of them to be worthwhile and stimulating. I spoke about my research on the Enforceability of Exacted Conservation Easements at the Albany Junior Scholar Workshop (and will be speaking on it again at the upcoming ALPS Annual Meeting). I also presented my research on Tribal Conservation Easements at the Buffalo Junior Faculty Forum (and will be speaking at it again at the upcoming Tribes, Land, and the Environment Conference at American University). I wrote earlier about how helpful I find junior faculty events and have really benefited from my colleagues at Buffalo at elsewhere who took the time to give me feedback on my work.

In the midst of these legal speaking events, I also spent a Friday afternoon presenting my research to Buffalo's Geography Department at their weekly colloquium. It's wonderful to be part of a big university where opportunities to speak and work with colleagues in other departments abound. Land Use and Environmental Law present multiple avenues for intersections and interactions.  The Geography Department faculty and graduate students asked me questions that law profs never would have come up with. My TA from the Geography Department is helping me map conservation easements in a GIS database. While I appreciate the feedback from law professors, the benefits of speaking to a broader crowd are plentiful. Next stop -- Urban and Regional Planning

- Jessica Owley