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After nearly two years of hard-fought litigation brought by Save the Dunes, the Town of Ogden Dunes announced it has “abandoned [its] project” to build a massive stone revetment along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Save the Dunes’ lawsuit challenged a permit issued by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (“DNR”) to allow this project.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Land, Public Trust, Water
Kacey’s career path in environmental law was charted during her time as a student in CLC’s Conservation Law Clinic at the IU Maurer School of Law. After graduating, Kacey served as Policy Specialist and Staff Attorney at Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council in Northern Michigan, where she collaborated with local communities to protect the area’s abundant freshwater resources. In 2022, she was invited to return to CLC, this time as the Constance and Terry Marbach Conservation Attorney.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Public Trust, Water
ODGEN DUNES — The possible construction of an armor stone revetment in Ogden Dunes has been challenged by the non-profit group Save the Dunes.
The organization filed an administrative appeal June 19 after the Indiana Department of Natural Resources approved Ogden-Dunes' request for a 2,970-foot-long, 10-foot-wide revetment along Lake Michigan’s lakeshore, according to a statement from Save the Dunes.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Public Trust, Water
A little more than three years ago, Lake Michigan was at its highest level in more than 30 years, and waves dashed up against the sheet steel piling that lakefront homeowners in the town of Ogden Dunes had installed in the 1980s and 1990s.
Worried that the piling was vulnerable and their homes were in danger, the town petitioned for permission to install a revetment — a layer of large, interlocking boulders along the shoreline — to protect their homes.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Public Trust, Water
(Ogden Dunes, IN)- Save the Dunes filed an administrative appeal on Monday with the Indiana Natural Resources Commission. The appeal challenges the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ (“DNR”) approval of the Town of Ogden Dunes’ proposal to build a 2,970-foot-long, 10-foot-wide, armor stone revetment along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Save the Dunes is represented in the case by the Conservation Law Center, a public interest environmental law firm that also runs the Conservation Law Clinic at Indiana University Mauer School of Law.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Public Trust, Water
On October 31st, the US Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari filed by private landowners in the Pavlock case, declining to consider the legal questions posed by petitioners and to require further consideration by the 7th Circuit.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Public Trust, Water
Today, the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) wishes a warm farewell and many thanks to its long-time Senior Attorney, Kim Ferraro, who is leaving HEC after 11 years to become the Senior Staff Attorney at the Conservation Law Center (CLC), effective August 1st.
- Services: Legal Advocacy, Legal Education, Nonprofit Support, Partnerships, Policy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community-Centered Conservation, Land, Public Trust, Water
Spring 2022 will be Professor Jeff Hyman’s final semester teaching the Conservation Law Clinic through Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Jeff has taught over 150 law students throughout his tenure with CLC, many of whom have gone on to practice environmental law as a career. It is safe to say he had high expectations of his students and held them to a high standard, but he also met them with honesty and respect. Clinic students have been fortunate to learn both the practice of law as well as specific areas of environmental law from such an experienced professional. Jeff will be missed!
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Public Trust, Water
Conservation Law Center is excited to welcome Andrea Lutz in the newly created position of Director of Advancement. This new role replaces the prior Director of Development position and will expand the responsibilities to include administering the organization’s development and marketing initiatives, as well as program expansion and management.
Each school year, second- and third-year law students at the IU Maurer School of Law have the opportunity to enroll for credit as interns in our Conservation Law Clinic, one of Maurer’s six public interest clinics focused on providing students a hands-on learning experience working with real clients. Under the supervision of CLC attorneys, student interns work closely with each other and with the attorneys on live legal matters for our myriad clients who need assistance with natural resource conservation issues.
- Services: Legal Education
- Issues: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community-Centered Conservation, Land, Public Trust, Water
In our landmark case, Gunderson v. Indiana, CLC represented the environmental groups Save the Dunes and Alliance for the Great Lakes through the Trial Court, the Indiana Court of Appeals, and the Indiana Supreme Court, and through our opponents’ unsuccessful petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. CLC was a major driving force defending Indiana’s ownership of its Lake Michigan shore and the public’s right to enjoy it.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Public Trust, Water
Is your right to access Indiana’s Lake Michigan shoreline a national concern? On October 5th, the US Supreme Court was asked to decide if it would consider the issue of the boundary of public rights on the shoreline. Their answer could set a national precedent.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Land, Public Trust, Water
Last week, Sr. Attorney Jeff Hyman presented two panels at the Public Interest and Environmental Law Conference in Oregon. The two panels are described below.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Public Trust
The Conservation Law Center, with attorney Jeff Hyman leading the litigation, represented environmental groups Alliance for the Great Lakes and Save the Dunes in a bid to protect the public’s right to use the Lake Michigan shore as public land.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Public Trust, Water
On December 7th, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline is held in trust for the public up to the ordinary high-water mark. The opinion, setting an important precedent, recognizes the public trust in Indiana.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Public Trust, Water
The Public Trust Doctrine grants access to use the land between the low and high water marks of Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Public Trust, Water
This July, La Porte County Judge Richard R. Stalbrink ruled that Indiana holds the state’s Lake Michigan shore in trust for public uses, including swimming, sunbathing, and other recreational activities. The decision, Gunderson v. State, No. 46D02-1401-PL-606 (LaPorte Super. Ct. 2 July 24, 2015) establishes that citizens’ rights extend beyond the water to an administratively established boundary on the shore, regardless of beach ownership.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Public Trust, Water
The Center has been representing the Alliance for the Great Lakes and Save the Dunes in a lawsuit in which certain owners of lakeside property claim ownership of the beach of Lake Michigan right down to the water's edge.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Public Trust, Water
CLC is representing the Alliance for the Great Lakes and Save the Dunes in litigation over the application of the public trust and the boundary of the State of Indiana's ownership of the shore of Lake Michigan. The lawsuit began when certain owners of lakeside property sued the Town of Long Beach, claiming a town resolution interfered with their rights. The complaint asks the court to declare that there is no public right in the shore landward of the water's edge. CLC’s clients believe that the conservation interest in the lakeshore will be best served by defending the claim of public rights in the shoreland.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Public Trust, Water
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