/ Environmental, Natural Resources, & Energy Law/ 2024 Wyss Scholar: Hayden Wyatt to Focus on Forest Conservation

2024 Wyss Scholar: Hayden Wyatt to Focus on Forest Conservation

Hayden Wyatt JD ’25 is one of two Wyss Scholars selected from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2024. The Wyss Foundation is a private, charitable foundation dedicated to land conservation. This summer Hayden will work for Cascadia Wildlands, with an internship focused on forest conservation.

February 21, 2024

Born in Wyoming, Hayden Wyatt ’25 grew up in a landscape dominated by public lands. Lupine Meadows in Grand Teton National Park was the first place he called home, where his parents raised their family in a 250-square-foot cabin at the base of Mt.Teewinot. His parents’ occupations as mountain guides and avalanche professionals had the family moving seasonally between Wyoming and Utah, with their various “offices” and family free time spent in national parks, forests, and monuments throughout the west.

Hayden has long been interested in public land conservation. As an undergrad at Quest University he co-founded the Student Environmental Committee. During his free time, he contributed to grassroots activism to protect Bears Ears National Monument and to oppose a LNG port development in Squamish, BC. Hayden received a Bachelor of Arts and Science with a focus in Political Ecology.

Before attending law school, Hayden worked four seasons on Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) as a Wilderness EMT, with his job taking him to the most remote parts of Yosemite National Park. While living in Yosemite, Hayden volunteered with Southern Sierra Miwuk elder Bill Tucker on the construction of the Wahhoga Cultural Center. Working with Bill to advocate for higher conservation standards in Yosemite inspired him to attend law school.

Hayden chose Lewis & Clark Law for its environmental law program. For his 1L summer, he worked as the Wildlands and Water intern for Central Oregon Landwatch. He has also worked for attorney Karl Anuta to combat unsustainable destination resort development in Central Oregon. Hayden is currently an extern at Crag Law Center, a board member for Northwest Environmental Defense Center, and a member of Environmental Law. This summer, he will work for Cascadia Wildlands with an internship focused on forest conservation.

About the Wyss Scholars Program

Lewis & Clark Law School was selected in 2017 to be part of the Wyss Scholars Program. Funded by the Wyss Foundation, a private, charitable foundation dedicated to land conservation, the Wyss Scholars Program seeks to identify and support a new generation of leaders focused on land conservation issues. Lewis & Clark is one of only a few law schools in the country selected for this program.

Two Wyss Scholars are selected from Lewis & Clark Law School each year (as of 2022) on the basis of their leadership potential and academic strength and their commitment to furthering land conservation.

Chhime Dorji Selected as 2026 Karuna Foundation International LLM Scholarship Recipient

Lewis & Clark Law School has named Bhutanese lawyer Chhime Dorji as the 2026 recipient of the Karuna Foundation International LLM Scholarship, which supports international environmental law students from countries where the foundation works. He will join Lewis & Clark’s top-ranked Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law program in January 2026, using his LLM studies to strengthen environmental law, climate justice, and sustainable development in Bhutan.

Read GEI’s November 2025 Newsletter

Last year’s newsletter reflected on what GEI had accomplished in a “best of” moment of fun before the chaos and drama of the next administration descended on us. We never could have guessed what we were all about to face …

GEI in the news!

GEI staff attorney expressed concerns about Pacific Power’s decision to remove the Boardman to Hemingway planned transmission line from its Integrated Resource Plan. In response to a citizens’ request to revoke the certificate allowing condemnation of private property.

GEI, Sierra Club, Mobilizing Climate Action Together, and the Northwest Energy Coalition argued that the that the certificate was premised upon the transmission line’s “broad public benefits, not the needs of a single private entity.” Allowing PacifiCorp to change course would “violate the spirit and legal framework under which the line was approved by this commission,” Alex Houston, an attorney with the Green Energy Institute who represents the groups, told commissioners. It would also “harm Oregon customers and set a dangerous precedent wherein the justifications supporting issuance of a certificate may summarily be disregarded once the utility gets approval,” he said.

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