PRACTICE DESCRIPTION
Melinda Taylor has a diverse environmental and land use practice, with extensive experience with implementation of the Endangered Species Act on private land, Clean Water Act regulatory issues, and implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act. She represents clients on a range of environmental and natural resource issues. From 1993-2005, Taylor was the director of Environmental Defense’s Ecosystem Restoration Program. She directed the organizations’ projects related to endangered species and water issues. She managed staff in seven regional offices in the U.S. and had responsibility for overseeing projects in more than 30 states. Taylor established ED's Landowner Conservation Assistance Program with support from a diverse coalition of groups including ranchers, farmers, hunters, state and federal agencies, and environmentalists. The LCAP provides technical assistance, regulatory incentives, and small grants to landowners who agree to restore endangered species habitat on their property. She drafted and negotiated the terms of a "safe harbor" endangered species permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide regulatory flexibility to landowners.

EDUCATION
University of Texas at Austin, J.D. 1986.
University of Texas at Austin, B.A., Plan II, Liberal Arts Honors Program, 1983. Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude.

PUBLICATIONS
Moving Away from Command and Control: The Evolution of Incentives to Conserve Endangered Species on Private Lands. Forthcoming chapter for a book edited by Robert B. McKinstry, Jr., School of Forest Resources, The Pennsylvania State University, on methods to protect biodiversity in the United States (expected publication date: Fall 2005).
Progress in Texas with Endangered Species Protection: Using Carrots Rather than Sticks to Encourage Habitat Protection on Private Land. Texas Environmental Law Journal, (Winter 2003-04), vol. 34, no. 2.
Co-author, A Partnership in Conservation: The Weyerhaeuser-EDF Management Plan for The Parker Tract, the Last Remnant of The East Dismal Swamp. 1997.
Co-author, Recommendations for Purchasing and Using Environmentally Preferable Paper, The Paper Task Force ( Duke University, EDF, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's, The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Time, Inc.). 1995.
"Promoting Recovery or Hedging a Bet Against Extinction: Austin, Texas's Risky Approach to Ensuring Endangered Species' Survival in the Texas Hill Country." Environmental Law, Vol. 24:581, 1993.

PROFESSIONAL LICENSES AND ASSOCIATIONS
Admitted to State Bar of Texas, 1987; D.C. Bar, 1989.
Member, State Bar of Texas: Environment and Natural Resources Section.
Member, D.C. Bar: Environment and Natural Resources Section.
Deputy General Counsel, National Audubon Society, 1989-1991.

COMMUNITY
Austin Parks Foundation Board of Trustees, 1999-2001.
Citizens Advisory Committee, Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan, 1998-2005.

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