The Wyss Scholars Program

Ian Connolly

lewis & clark college - law

Ian Connolly grew up in Colorado, less than a mile from the South Fork of the Platte River. As an undergraduate at Quest University in British Columbia, he studied human geography, focusing on water policy, land conservation, and rural development. Ian is passionate about environmental justice and Western public lands and is conscious of the exclusionary and oppressive history of environmentalism in the United States. He is pursuing a Juris Doctor focusing on environmental and Native American law. Ian continues to be involved with community environmental nonprofits, having worked with several organizations throughout law school. After his first year in law school, Ian worked for the Idaho Conservation League on salmon conservation and land issues. This semester, he serves as a legal extern for Advocates for the West. He is the public lands coordinator for the Northwest Environmental Defense Center at Lewis & Clark College and is a source checker for the law review, Environmental Law. Despite the demands of a legal career, he hopes to continue spending time on the Salmon River and tributaries of the Columbia River for years to come, leveraging his education on behalf of wild places and communities across the West.