Stanford Law School has awarded Michael Bean, a nationally recognized leader in wildlife conservation, its Robert Minge Brown Lectureship, for his innovative approaches to promoting wildlife conservation using incentives.

Bean’s lecture, titled “Turning Adversaries into Allies: New Ideas for Conserving Our Most Imperiled Wildlife,” will be delivered Thursday, February 24, 2005 at 5:00 p.m., in Room 190, Crown Quadrangle, Stanford Law School.

Bean currently serves as chair of the Wildlife Program at Environmental Defense, where he has directed wildlife activities since 1977. He is a foremost authority on the Endangered Species Act and its implementation. His book, “The Evolution of Wildlife Law,” is the leading text on wildlife conservation law in the United States. He has also written numerous articles on wildlife protection.

Much of Bean’s current endangered species conservation work focuses on the challenge of conserving rare species on privately owned land, and his lecture at Stanford Law School will specifically address innovation in species conservation on private land.

“Michael Bean’s path-breaking work on conservation easements with private landowners, his entrepreneurial development of incentive-based wildlife conservation policies, and tireless efforts to make the Endangered Species Act more effective make him an ideal recipient of the Robert Minge Brown Lectureship,” said Larry D. Kramer, Richard E. Lang Professor and Dean of Stanford Law School.

Each year, the Robert Minge Brown Lectureship at Stanford Law School recognizes a distinguished scholar, policy maker, or lawyer in the environmental field who has developed innovative and effective approaches to environmental policy. The lectureship was funded by the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, in honor of its former board member, Stanford alumnus Robert Minge Brown.

The first recipient of the Brown Lectureship was Tim Wirth, current president of the United Nations Foundation and former undersecretary of state for global affairs. Wirth’s address focused on international environmental issues, with special attention to the United States’ leadership role in developing responsible environmental and natural resource policies. The second Brown lecturer, Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, explorer-in-residence with the National Geographic Society and former chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), focused on the state of the oceans, how humans have adversely affected the health of the oceans, and why we should act now to protect ocean resources. The most recent Brown lecturer, Bruce Babbitt, former United States secretary of the interior and two-term governor of Arizona, focused on public lands management problem solving and policy.

The Robert Minge Brown Lectureship is a cornerstone of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at Stanford Law School, a leading center for cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research and practice.