Alejandro Camacho
Faculty Director, Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources
Joint appointment in Law and Political Science

Expertise:
Environmental law, natural resource law, land use regulation, regulatory design and government organization
Background:
Professor Camacho’s scholarship explores the goals, structures, and processes of regulation, with a particular focus on natural resources and public lands law, pollution control law, and land use regulation. His writing considers the role of public participation and scientific expertise in regulation, the allocation of authority and relationships between regulatory institutions, and how the design and goals of legal institutions must and can be reshaped to more effectively account for emerging technologies and the dynamic character of natural and human systems.
His legal scholarship includes articles published or forthcoming in the Yale Journal on Regulation, Washington University Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, UCLA Law Review, Stanford Environmental Law Journal, North Carolina Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Emory Law Journal, Colorado Law Review, Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, and BYU Law Review. Professor Camacho is the co-author, with fellow CPR Member Scholar Robert Glicksman, of Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework, published by NYU Press in 2019.
Professor Camacho’s interdisciplinary research involves collaborations with experts in ecology, land use planning, political science, computer science, genetics, philosophy, and sociology. He was a co-investigator on National Science Foundation-funded research developing a collaborative cyber-infrastructure for facilitating climate change adaptation. His scientific publications include articles in BioScience, the Journal of Applied Ecology, Issues in Science and Technology, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
He is a frequent public speaker and has contributed opinion pieces or interviews for various print and radio news outlets (including the Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Denver Post, The Australian, Discover, Nature Climate Change, Bloomberg, Businessweek, HuffPost, Mother Jones, The Hill, and National Public Radio stations).
Professor Camacho is an elected member of the American Law Institute. He also serves as the inaugural Director of the UCI Law Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources, which seeks to promote policy-relevant research and public engagement through conferences, lectures, publications, and stakeholder facilitation on a variety of regional and national environmental issues. He is a Scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform, a nonprofit think tank devoted to issues of environmental protection and safety. He is on the Executive Committee of UCI OCEANS, and holds a courtesy appointment in Political Science at UCI’s School of Social Sciences. He is the former chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Natural Resources.
In Fall 2017, he was the Florence Rogatz Visiting Professor of Law at the Yale Law School. Before joining UCI, Professor Camacho was an Associate Professor at the Notre Dame Law School, a research fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center, and practiced environmental and land use law.
(Log in to view full course descriptions in the UCI Law Course Catalog)
- De- and Re-constructing Public Governance for Biodiversity Conservation, 73 Vand. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2020)
- Beyond Preemption, Toward Metropolitan Governance, 39 Stan. Envtl. L.J. (forthcoming 2020) (with Nicholas J. Marantz).
- The Trump Card: Tarnishing Planning, Democracy, and the Environment, 50 Envtl. L. Rep. 10281-89 (2020) (with Robert L. Glicksman).
- Bulldozing Infrastructure Planning and the Environment through Trump’s Executive Order 13807, 91 U. Colo. L. Rev. 511 (2020).
- Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework (with Robert L. Glicksman) (NYU Press 2019).
- Mitigating Climate Change through Transportation and Land Use Policy, 49 Envtl. L. Rep. 10473-92 (2019) (with Melissa L. Kelly, Nicholas J. Marantz, and Gabriel Weil).
- Blind focus on ‘energy dominance’ may cripple Endangered Species Act, The Hill (Oct. 4, 2018) https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/410005-blind-focus-on-energy-dominance-may-cripple-endangered-species-act.
- Improving Water Quality and Ecosystem Health in California’s Marine Managed Areas, 48 Envtl. L. Rep. 10818-36 (2018) (with Elizabeth Taylor and Stephanie Talavera).
- Turning power over to states won’t improve protection for endangered species, The Conversation (Jan. 11, 2018), https://theconversation.com/turning-power-over-to-states-wont-improve-protection-for-endangered-species-87495 (republished in L.A. Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, the Associated Press, and other news outlets).
- Wildlife laws aren't ready for the return of extinct species, AXIOS (June 22, 2017), https://www.axios.com/wildlife-laws-arent-ready-for-de-extinct-species-2445130259.html.
- Conservation Limited: Assessing the Limitations of State Laws and Resources for Endangered Species Protection, UC Irvine Law Center for Land, Environment, & Natural Resources Report No. 3 (2017) (with Michael Robinson-Dorn, Asena Yildiz, and Tara Teegarden), reprinted as Assessing State Laws and Resources for Endangered Species Protection, 47 Envtl. L. Rep. 10837 (2017).
- Congress Wants Land Agency to Ignore the Facts and Future, CPRBlog (Feb. 28, 2017), http://www.progressivereform.org/CPRBlog.cfm?idBlog=0ACD6185-0636-2092-811079BE2309B574 (with Robert Glicksman).
- Keynote Speaker, Technologies and modalities of regulation, Constitutionalizing the Anthropocene, Tilburg Univ., Tilburg, Netherlands, Dec. 3-4, 2020 (confirmed).
- Speaker, Promoting Adaptive Structural Governance, Oversight and Accountability Conference, American Univ. Washington College of Law, Nov. 6, 2020 (confirmed).
- Speaker, Reorganizing Government, Dep’t. Urb. Plan. & Pub. Pol’y, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, Nov. 16, 2020 (confirmed).
- Speaker, Neglecting Government Organization in Pandemic Planning and Response, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, Oct. 2, 2020 (confirmed).
- Panelist, Structured to Fail, U.S. Response to the Covid Pandemic, Program on Regulation, Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Law, Aug. 26, 2020 (confirmed).
- Panelist, The Future of Conservation and Emerging Strategies, Frontiers in Environmental Law: 50th Earth Day Celebration, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, April 22, 2020.
- Speaker, Neglecting the Crucial Role of Government Organization in Pandemic Planning and Response, Mini-Conferences on Coronavirus and Law, Univ. of Oklahoma College of Law, April 15, 2020.
- Panelist, Biodiversity Conservation and Biotechnology, Extinction: Solutions for Bringing Species Back From the Brink, Univ. Of Calif., Irvine, March 2020.
- Keynote Speaker, De-extinction, Resurrection, and the Human Species, Tulane Law School, March 7, 2020.
- Presenter, Assisted Migration and Endangered Species, Idaho Law School, Nov. 1, 2019.
- Presenter, Reorganizing Government, Idaho Law School, Oct. 31, 2019.
- Presenter, Biodiversity Conservation as a Wicked Problem, Vanderbilt Law School, October 25, 2019.
- Presenter, Reorganizing Government, Univ. of Arizona Law School Faculty Colloquium, October 3, 2019.
- Speaker, Reframing Conservation Law and Management in the Anthropocene, Current Issues in Air Quality, Climate and Energy, Depts. of Chemistry & Mechanical Engineering, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, April 22, 2019.
- Presenter, Metropolitan Governance in 3D, Northwestern Univ. Law School Environmental Colloquium, March 14, 2019.
- Speaker, Railroading Infrastructure: Misdirection and Half-truths through “One Federal Decision”, Colorado Law Review Symposium, March 1, 2019.
- Speaker, Fire & Ice: The Shifting Narrative of Climate Change, Fifth Annual Forum for the Academy and the Public, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, Feb. 9, 2019.
- Speaker, Assessing State Laws and Resources for Endangered Species Protection, Sierra Club 2018 State Colloquium, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Nov. 30, 2018.
- Speaker, Reimagining Environmental and Natural Resources Law: 2020 and Beyond, George Washington Univ. Law School, March 21-22, 2019 (confirmed).
- Speaker, The Changing Landscape of Public Lands, Colorado Law Review Symposium, March 1, 2019 (confirmed).
- Speaker/Participant, Adapting Law to Climate Change, Climate Adaptation Implementation Barriers Workshop, sponsored by USFWS, Florida FWC, TNC & NWF, Orlando, Florida, June 12-13, 2018.
- Participant, Adaptive Water Governance Workshop, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, Annapolis, Maryland, February 7-9, 2018.
- Participant, Multiple Agency/Interest Collaboration and Funding of Wildlife Habitat Conservation in Anticipation of Development, Environmental Law Institute, Washington, DC, Jan. 18, 2018.
- Participant, Yale Workshop on Trade and Climate Change, Yale University, Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2017.
- Distinguished Speaker, Assisted Migration and Other Emerging Conservation Strategies, Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Nov. 14, 2017.
- Presenter, Re-organizing Government: The Functions and Dimensions of Regulatory Authority, Yale Law School Faculty Workshop, Nov. 6, 2017.
- Briefing, Assessing State Laws and Resources for Endangered Species Protection, United States Senate (hosted by Senator Tammy Duckworth), Washington, DC, Sept. 28, 2017.
- Speaker, Natural Resources, Energy, and Environment in a Climate Changed World, Univ. of Colorado Law School, Aug. 10, 2017.
- Speaker, A New Paradigm for Conservation Biology, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, May 5, 2017.
- Panelist, The Legacy of Massachusetts v. EPA, Climate, Carbon, and Cars, 2017 Earth Day Conference, Univ. of Conn. School of Law, April 21, 2017.
- SCOTUSblog: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly write argument analysis on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club
- SCOTUSblog: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly write preview of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club
- A Hard Look Podcast: LISTEN: Prof. Camacho discusses his book co-authored with Robert Glicksman: “Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework”
- Penn Program on Regulation: WATCH: Prof. Camacho participates in panel discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic and implications for U.S. regulatory law
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho and Robert L. Glicksman op-ed: The Trump Administration’s latest unconstitutional power grab
- SCOTUSblog: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly highlighted for essay on County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund in the Regulatory Review
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly op-ed: The shape of water after County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund
- Bloomberg Law: Prof. Camacho quoted on BLM violating goals and purpose of NEPA
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho co-writes op-ed on the Trump Administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Federal News Network: Prof. Camacho quoted on Republican Study Committee recommendations to alter ESA, NEPA processes through COVID-19 relief bills
- Environmental Law Reporter: Prof. Camacho co-authors article on Trump’s proposed revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act
- The Hill: Prof. Camacho op-ed: Trump is trying to cripple the environment and democracy
- Good Law Bad Law Podcast: LISTEN: Prof. Camacho discusses his recent book “Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework” with co-author Robert Glicksman
- CPR Connect the Dots: LISTEN: Prof. Camacho discusses his new book “Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework” co-authored with Robert Glicksman
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho op-ed: How to Improve Allocations of Regulatory Authority
- Notice & Comment: Prof. Camacho wrote about federalism considerations with environmental regulatory strategies
- The Revelator: Prof. Camacho op-ed: Trump’s Decision to Hamstring California’s Climate Authority Is Illogical and Uninformed
- The Hill: Prof. Camacho op-ed: Trump administration rollbacks disable environmental planning and democracy
- The Conversation: Profs. Camacho and Robinson-Dorn’s op-ed on environmental protections, endangered species named in roundup on must-read environmental coverage
- KCBX: Prof. Camacho comments on proposed changes to National Environmental Policy Act that would relax permitting for logging, forest management projects
- KQED: Prof. Camacho comments on proposal to modify environmental permitting for logging, forest management projects
- Bloomberg: Prof. Camacho quoted on housing development sprawl in Los Angeles County
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho op-ed: What President Trump’s Infrastructure Agenda Gets Wrong
- Businessweek: Prof. Camacho comments on environmental impact of Los Angeles sprawl
- The Regulatory Review: Prof. Camacho op-ed: What President Trump’s Infrastructure Agenda Gets Wrong
- The Conversation: Prof. Camacho op-ed: A defeat on offshore drilling extends the Trump administration’s losing streak in court
- Los Angeles Review of Books: Prof. Camacho writes on climate change, ecological welfare and law and policy
- Huffington Post: Prof. Camacho comments on move to shift endangered species protections to states
- The Hill: Prof. Camacho and Melissa Kelly op-ed: Blind focus on ‘energy dominance’ may cripple Endangered Species Act
- UCI Law: Prof. Camacho submits comment on proposed Endangered Species Act revisions
- CPR Blog: Prof. Camacho joins CPR member scholars in support of the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act
- The Mercury News: Prof. Camacho comments on impact of California wildfires, liability of utilities
- Los Angeles Times: Prof. Camacho comments on relieving utilities of their liability for fire damage
- Bloomberg: Prof. Camacho quoted on California utilities' liability over wildfires
- Ask A Leader: LISTEN: Prof. Camacho discusses challenge of California Coastal Act over Martins Beach
- KQED: Prof. Camacho comments on Trump Administration lawsuit over sale of CA public lands
- The Conversation: Prof. Camacho and Prof. Robinson-Dorn write: Turning power over to states won’t improve protection for endangered species
- High Country News: Prof. Camacho comments on laws protecting rare, endangered plants
- CPRBlog: Prof. Camacho writes about CLEANR report that shows existing state laws lack capacity to protect, recover endangered species
- Axios: Prof. Camacho writes about how wildlife laws are not ready for the return of extinct species
- Center for Progressive Reform: Prof. Camacho among 27 scholars outlining concerns re: Senate Regulatory Accountability Act
- Voice of OC: Prof. Camacho quoted: Banning Ranch ruling reaffirms what CEQA is all about
- Courthouse News Service: Prof. Camacho quoted: “It’s back to the drawing board with the city” for Newport Banning Ranch project
- ScienceLine: Prof. Camacho quoted on de-extinction and conservation law
- CPRBlog: Prof. Camacho co-authors “Congress Wants Land Agency to Ignore the Facts and Future”
- UCI News: UCI Law professors Camacho, DiMento, Robinson-Dorn and the Center for Land, Environment & Natural Resources, and Environmental Law Clinic featured in story on UCI's efforts in tracking and tackling environmental challenges