PERC Vice President of Law and Policy Jonathan Wood joins Caleb O. Brown of the Cato Daily Podcast to discuss how litigation often thwarts and delays necessary forest restoration projects. Managing forests is more than putting out fires, and excessive litigation can make the risk and consequences of wildfire worse. Projects can often be delayed by decades, and in the worst cases, litigious delays allow wildfires to burn through parts of a forest sited for restoration before the work can even begin. Jonathan explains how regulatory reform can make litigation less disruptive by requiring lawsuits to be filed quickly and clarifying how fire risks and forest health should affect injunction decisions.
Litigating to Make Forest Management Worse
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Jonathan Wood
- Vice President of Law & Policy
Jonathan Wood is vice president of law and policy at PERC, leading PERC’s Conservation Law and Policy Center.
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PERC Reports Magazine, Summer 2026
A special issue exploring American conservation history as the nation turns 250.
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Thomas Jefferson: The Lost Founding Father of American Conservation
Two years before he authored the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson set out on the lifelong project of conserving Virginia’s Natural Bridge. Michaelle Browers has described the effort as “perhaps the first major act of nature preservation in the new republic.” The man who would be Governor of Virginia and President of the United StatesContinue reading "Litigating to Make Forest Management Worse"
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How the Eagle Came Back
As we celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, it is heartening that America’s national symbol, the bald eagle, is no longer imperiled. Although once at risk of extinction throughout much of its historical range, this majestic species rebounded in the late 20th century, and populations are now in good health. At the time of the nation’sContinue reading "Litigating to Make Forest Management Worse"
