Florida's New Environmental Challenges
Clay Henderson is a leading environmental lawyer, educator, and writer. His lengthy career includes nearly 20 years at the national law firm of Holland & Knight, President of Florida Audubon Society, and he recently retired as Director of the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience at Stetson University, where he had a faculty appointment to the College of Law.
Henderson’s public service includes election to two terms on the Volusia County Council and appointment to a number of boards including the Florida Constitution Revision Commission and Florida Communities Trust. He has long been engaged in environmental policy in Florida including drafting or sponsoring most of the environmental provisions in the Florida Constitution including establishment of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Everglades Trust Fund, and the Land and Water Legacy Initiative, the largest voter approved conservation funding measure in our nation’s history. He has negotiated the acquisition of over 300,000 acres of lands now part of national and state parks, forests, and wildlife refuges. He has taught environmental policy and law at University of Central Florida, Rollins College, and Stetson University.
Henderson has been published by the American Bar Association, Environmental Law Institute, and various law reviews. His book The Florida’s focused on Florida’s special places and natural heritage. He is currently working on a history of land conservation.
Henderson has been recognized for his body of work including the national public service award from The Nature Conservancy, Bill Sadowski Memorial Public Service Award from the Environment and Land Use Section of the Florida Bar, Lifetime Service Award from the Marine Resources Council, and the Hood Public Service Award from Stetson University.