January 15, 2025 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm CST
Speaker: Stephanie Showalter Otts, Director of the National Sea Grant Law Center and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law.
As the North American Invasive Species Management Association’s Weed Free Products (WFP) program expands across the country, legal and policy barriers have emerged that limit implementation. To advance the WFP standards, the National Sea Grant Law Center (NSGLC) at the University of Mississippi School of Law is collaborating with NAISMA to create a model legal package for state noxious weed programs focused on pathway prevention through certified weed free forage, gravel, and mulch. The three-year project, which launched in January 2023, is supported by the U.S. Department of Interior with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. During the first phase of the project, the NSGLC compiled an inventory of state invasive plant statutes, regulations, and policies nationwide and conducted an analysis of six priority policy attributes. In the next phase, the NSGLC will be conducting a gap analysis to assess state authority to implement WFP programs. The inventory and findings from the gap analysis will provide the foundation for the development of the model legal package in the third phase of the project. In this special session, the NSGLC will provide an overview of the project and present findings from the inventory and gap analysis. In addition, the NSGLC will solicit participant input on research findings and the proposed approach to development of the model legal framework through interactive polling or similar technology.
Stephanie Showalter Otts is the Director of the National Sea Grant Law Center and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law. Stephanie graduated from Penn State University with a B.A. in History and received a joint J.D./Masters of Studies in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School in 2001. Stephanie began her career at the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2002 as the National Sea Grant Law Center’s first staff attorney (research counsel). Prior to joining the University of Mississippi, Stephanie served as a Law Clerk for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and Mississippi. As Director, Stephanie oversees a variety of legal education, research, and outreach activities addressing ocean and coastal law issues. She conducts legal research and provides technical assistance to organizations and governmental agencies on a variety of topics, including aquaculture, fisheries, invasive species, and coastal development. Stephanie also teaches a foundational course on ocean and coastal law at the University of Mississippi School of Law and serves as the co-coach of the Pace Environmental Law Moot Court team. Her research on natural resources, marine, and environmental law issues has been published in a variety of publications. Stephanie has conducted extensive research on marine and freshwater invasive species. Recent relevant publications include “Confronting the Marine Invasive Species Threat: Practical and Legal Challenges” in Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law: U.S. and International Perspectives (2014) and “Legislative and Regulatory Efforts to Minimize Expansion of Invasive Mussels through Watercraft Movements” in the Arizona Journal of Environmental Law and Policy (Summer 2013).
