Originally published in the Getches-Wilkinson Center Blog on March 20, 2024
University of Colorado Law School student Mariah Bowman ’25 has been named the 2024-2025 Colorado Law Wyss Scholar in U.S. Lands Conservation. Bowman, a J.D. candidate, is Colorado Law’s seventh Wyss Scholar. The Wyss Scholars Program, funded by the Wyss Foundation, is awarded to one Colorado Law student each year, supports graduate-level education for promising leaders in United States land conservation. Recipients receive generous financial assistance to cover the full cost of one year of law school, as well as funds for internship opportunities, research assistance, and postgraduate support. Wyss Scholars learn the latest in conservation law and policy and apply that knowledge in careers at land management agencies and nonprofit conservation groups.
Mariah is a third generation Coloradoan. She used to be interested in pursuing a career in solely land conservation. Now, she believes that without climate action, we can set aside all the land we want, but it will be sick land. She wants to combine her love for the land with her overwhelming certainty that climate action is the best thing we can do for it. She hopes to pursue a career at the crossroads of land conservation and climate policy, working for either the state or federal government.
By the time she graduates law school, she will have a wide breadth of experience both working for governments generally and doing environmental work for them. She will have worked for local, state and federal governments. And she will have worked for all three branches of the federal government, and at least two branches of state governments. She is committed to understanding how the levers of power work, so that she can help move them to protect our land, health, and future.
Before law school, she served as the Chief of Staff to Delegate Gooditis, who was then the Vice Chair of the Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee in the Virginia House of Delegates. Because of this committee assignment, she researched and drafted many environmental bills, working with state officials, advocacy organizations, and industry stakeholders to do so.
She is particularly excited by the Wyss Scholar network, and having opportunities to connect with others who are doing important work in land conservation. She has accepted an internship with the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division for this Summer. She hopes to continue to do conservation work for the rest of her life, and believes the Wyss Scholarship will be instrumental in this pursuit.