As discussed in The Public Trust Doctrine In Motion, the doctrine has evolved to become a central body of environmental law.  It has been applied by the courts to ground-water, minimum in-stream flows, water quality protection, habitat preservation, western water rights (Chapter VI), fisheries, even waterway speed limits. Here are a few excerpts from The Public Trust Doctrine In Motion:

“The Public Trust Doctrine is by no means a panacea. But, with the Doctrine’s inherent flexibility to evolve as the mores and needs of society evolve, as our scientific understanding advances, and as we recognize more every day that our natural resources are suffering under the weight of modern society, the Doctrine’s essential place in resource stewardship is abundantly clear.  The Public Trust Doctrine has evolved in our own time from an ancient code, designed to keep the seas, shorelands and fish open to the public, to a modern doctrine of environmental stewardship.   Although it remains pegged to ‘navigable’ waters in most states, it is clear that the principles inherent in the Public Trust Doctrine can be, perhaps should be, applied to all publicly-held resources.  After all, this is what the citizens of Colorado were hoping to accomplish with their 2007 ballot initiative that led to Kemper v. Hamilton.  It is a doctrine in motion.”

“We are not just a country with serious deterioration of our waters and natural resources jeopardizing the future health and welfare of our children.  We are a tiny planet with very serious ‘carrying capacity’ problems, and are in dire need now of sound and wise environmental stewardship.   It is not only that our seas are rising, it is that our seas are depleted, in some cases dying.  The fisheries of the world’s oceans have been reduced nearly 90%.  Much of the coral reefs worldwide are sick, many dying, as in Florida.  Tropical forests are being clear cut and burnt at an alarming rate. While CO2 increases in our atmosphere causing global warming, we are destroying the very machinery designed to take CO2 out of the atmosphere –  our forests.  We hold all of the public resources – air, rivers, lakes, timber, land, seas, oceans, wildlife – as trustees for our children.  If we deplete these trust assets today, as we are voraciously doing, our children, our beneficiaries, will inherit a far less inhabitable planet.”

“Hopefully each State’s modern recognition of its Trust Power – an inherent attribute of its sovereignty – will serve to better protect all public resources, whether they be water, land, air, forest or wildlife.  This is especially important because the Public Trust Doctrine is state, not federal law.”

“As the Nevada Supreme Court so eloquently stated:

    “The public trust is more than an affirmation of state power to use public property for public purposes. It is an affirmation of the duty of the state to protect the people’s common heritage of streams, lakes, marshlands and tidelands, surrendering that right of protection only in rare cases when the abandonment of that right is consistent with the purposes of the trust.  Our dwindling natural resources deserve no less.”

Our children and future generations deserve no less.”

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