wildlife

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.

COMMENTARY | Park Service’s Inhumane Inertia

by | December 9, 2022
The Biden administration has left several disastrous Trump policies in place - from allowing inhumane hunting practices to not taking action on park crowding ...

PEERMail | Banning Lead Ammunition in National Parks

by | November 29, 2022
One of the great tragedies of lead ammunition is the widespread poisoning it causes to wildlife ...

COMMENTARY | Countering the Western War on Wolves

by | November 2, 2022
A science-based approach to wolf and predator management is the key to restoring ecological balance in America’s Western lands ...

USGS Inches Toward Accreditation of Wildlife Disease Lab

by | September 14, 2022
Independent Review to Prevent Biosafety and Animal Welfare Breakdowns ...

COMMENTARY | Preventing Future Zoonotic Pandemics

by | May 18, 2022
Four policy steps to reduce zoonotic disease risks and prevent future pandemics that stem from human interaction with wildlife ...
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