Professor, Natural Resource Policy; Chair, Department of Society & Conservation
Martin Nie is Professor of Natural Resources Policy and Chair of the Department of Society and Conservation. His research broadly focuses on federal lands and wildlife policy, law, planning, and management. Some of Nie’s more recent projects examine issues pertaining to adaptive management, federal lands planning, protected lands, and various reform proposals and initiatives in National Forest law and management. Nie’s latest book is The Governance of Western Public Lands: Mapping Its Present and Future (2008).
Martin regularly teaches Natural Resources Policy (NRSM 422) and more specialized policy courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His goal in research and teaching is to provide trusted and relevant information, analysis, and questions to decision makers and students. He cares deeply about federal lands and his work is driven by the question of how to best care for these lands and the people and communities that love and often depend on them.
Nie grew up in Ontario, Canada and received degrees from the University of Nebraska and Northern Arizona University. He loves to hike, backpack, alpine and Nordic ski, float rivers, hunt, fish, and just mess around on public lands. He also enjoys photography, music, playing a lot of hockey, good (and not good) beer, strong cheese, bread and pastries.
Ph.D. Northern Arizona University, Department of Political Science (Environmental Policy Program)
NRSM 422: Natural Resources Policy (undergraduate & graduate). This course examines public land and resources policy, law and administration from multiple perspectives. It covers environmental and administrative decision making and various contemporary resource management problems and conflicts. A number of substantive policy areas are examined including national forests, public rangelands, water, wildlife and biodiversity, and protected areas, among others. These substantive areas are approached and analyzed in a number of different ways. 422 is generally taught every fall and spring semester, and can be taken for undergraduate and graduate credit. Spring 2013 syllabus. Fall 2009 syllabus (with first edition textbook reading selections)
NRSM 370 Wildland Conservation Policy and Governance (for wilderness and civilization students only). This course examines U.S. protected lands law, policy, and management from multiple perspectives. Several federal designations and management systems are reviewed, including the conservation of private lands. Several contemporary issues and conflicts important to the protection and management of wildlands are analyzed throughout the course. Students are also introduced to various land conservation approaches, strategies and tools.
NRSM 622: Advanced Problems in Environmental Policy. The seminar examines a number of policy problems and contemporary issues in environmental policy, law, and administration. Problems and opportunities related to public land conflict and governance, environmental planning, science and decision making, tribal resource management, and private land development, among others, are analyzed. It is a readings-based seminar and students lead most reviews and discussions.
A "research news profile" written about Nie's work focused on national forest and federal lands planning.
federal public land and resources policy, wildlife policy, environmental conflict, conservation strategy, property, governance.
Nie conducts applied and commissioned research projects as a policy analyst at the Bolle Center for People and Forests.
Core faculty member in the College's Resource Conservation Program.
Off-and-on again relationship with the Nebraska Cornhuskers (mostly on) and Toronto Maple Leafs (mostly off)
Schultz, C., T. Sisk, B. Noon, and M. Nie, "Wildlife Conservation Planning Under the United States Forest Service's 2012 Planning Rule," Journal of Wildlife Management (2013). PDF here.
Nie, M. & C. Schultz. "Decision-Making Triggers in Adaptive Management." Conservation Biology 26, no. 6 (2012): 1137-1144.
Schultz, C. and M. Nie. "Decision-Making Triggers, Adaptive Management, and Natural Resources Law and Planning," Natural Resources Journal 52 (2012):443-521. PDF here.
Nie, M. "Whatever Happened to Ecosystem Management and Federal Lands Planning?" In K. Robbins, Ed., The Laws of Nature: Reflections on the Evolution of Ecosystem Management Law and Policy (Akron, OH: University of Akron Press, 2012). PDF here.
Nie, M. "Place-Based National Forest Legislation and Agreements: Common Characteristics and Policy Recommendations," Environmental Law Reporter, 41 (2011): 10229-10246. PDF here. Appendix (comparison tables). For earlier report see Place-Based National Forest Legislation & Agreements: Report to U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region (Missoula, MT: Bolle Center for People and Forests, 2010). Report PDF here. Appendix (comparison tables) PDF here.
Nie, M. Prepared Statement on National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule. U.S. Forest Service, National Science Forum (Washington, D.C.: March 30, 2010). PDF here.
Nie, M. & M. Fiebig. "Managing the National Forests through Place-Based Legislation," Ecology Law Quarterly, 37, no. 1 (2010): 1-52. PDF here.
Nie, M. Congressional Testimony on S. 1470, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (Dec. 14, 2009). PDF here.
Nie, M. "Interview with President Bush's Undersecretary of Agriculture, Mark Rey," Headwaters News (April 22, 2009).
Burchfield, J. & M. Nie. National Forests Policy Assessment: Report to Senator Jon Tester (Missoula, MT: University of Montana, College of Forestry and Conservation, 2008). PDF here.
Nie, M. "The Use of Co-Management and Protected Land Use Designations to Protect Tribal Cultural Resources and Reserved Treaty Rights on Federal Lands," Natural Resources Journal, 48 (2008): 1-63. PDF here.
Nie, M. "The Underappreciated Role of Regulatory Enforcement in Natural Resource Conservation," Policy Sciences, 41, no. 2 (2008): 139-164. PDF here.
Nie, M. The Governance of Western Public Lands: Mapping Its Present & Future (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008)
