Public Lands

Senior Counsel

Peter has been an environmental, land use, and consumer attorney and advocate since 1983. He has held various roles in Washington, DC including Of Counsel at the Center for Food Safety; Vice President for U.S. Government Policy at Conservation International; Director of International Conservation at Defenders of Wildlife; and Staff Attorney at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Additionally, he worked as a contracted consultant on endangered species recovery efforts with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Turner Endangered Species Fund in New Mexico. Prior to that, he served as an Attorney and Policy Analyst for the U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, and was also in private law practice. His career has centered on bringing the best science to bear in environmental protection efforts; he has specialized in working with scientists so their findings can inform good policy, as well as in federal litigation. Most of his work has been in aid of wildlife conservation in the fields of pesticides, genetically modified organisms, invasive species, wildlife disease prevention, international trade, land use conflicts, and other areas. Peter received his law degree from the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University) School of Law and also has a master’s degree in Environmental Studies from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a focus on conservation biology.

Statement | Ten Steps to Ensure that Proper Leaders Run the Department of the Interior

by Peter Jenkins | December 22, 2020
A guide for the Biden administration to avoid repeating the Trump administration's unlawful actions in making appointments in the Interior Department ...

Big Cypress ORV Plan a Travesty: Former Superintendent   

by PEER | December 15, 2020
Park Service Shirking Wilderness, Wildlife, and Conservation Responsibilities ...

PEERMail | Climate Change and the Transition Ahead

by Tim Whitehouse | November 16, 2020
Government actions must reflect the reality of climate change. The Biden-Harris campaign promises to address climate change on public lands ...

BLOG | COVID-19, Yellowstone, and the Company that puts the American Public at Risk

by Guest Contributor | November 10, 2020
Winter snow guides in Yellowstone protest pandemic response in managed Yellowstone National Park, six guides were fired as a result ...

PEERMail | Troubled Timber Sales at Tongass

by Tim Whitehouse | October 15, 2020
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is suing the U.S. Forest Service to produce an audit of staggering monetary losses from past timber sales in the Tongass National Forest ...

BLOG | Is Pendley Indispensable at BLM or Just Undetectable?

by Jeff Ruch | October 9, 2020
A federal court in Montana is now determining which of William Pendley actions as illegal head of the Bureau of Lang Management (BLM) should be invalidated ...