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University of Colorado Law School students Obie Johnson (’25) and Andrea Shipton (’25) have been named the 2025-2026 Colorado Law Wyss Scholars in U.S. Lands Conservation. , funded by the , is awarded to two Colorado Law students 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.

Obie Johnson’s interest in public land conservation derives from his childhood along the Gulf Coast of Florida, which instilled in him not just a deep respect for nature but also a bitterness toward humankind’s harmful treatment of it. After moving to Colorado in 2017 for college, these values quickly extended to our public lands through his enjoyment of rock climbing, birding, admiring the very different geology from Florida, and simply listening to the sound of the creeks go by. These experiences combine to impassion Obie to protect every cog and wheel of our public lands.

Since beginning at Colorado Law in 2023, Obie’s guiding principle has been to involve himself as much as possible in the environmental law sphere. This began with research work for the Getches-Wilkinson Center in the Fall of his 1L year and has continued through membership in the Environmental Law Journal, Natural Resources Clinic, Environmental Law Society, and the Colorado Law Animal Legal Defense Fund. Obie’s career goals mirror his work experience with the Center for Biological Diversity and his upcoming summer internship with Earthjustice’s Florida Regional Office; he wants to spend his days litigating to protect the environment as well as writing to advocate for more fundamental reform of our often-inadequate environmental statutes.

Andrea Shipton became interested in public land conservation due to enriching outdoor and conservation experiences as a child, teenager, and young adult in the Adirondack Park of upstate New York. From living alone in a mountaintop cabin and working as a summit steward to interning with the Adirondack Council, the largest environmental nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Park, she quickly became passionate about conserving wildlife and outdoor recreation spaces. As she pursued�� her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies at Hamilton College, I became fascinated by the unique�� management structure of the Adirondacks–the interspersing of private and public lands, the constitutionally-protected state forest preserve, and the jigsaw puzzle of land classifications determining allowable usage on each tract. Fascinated by this structure and driven by a desire to help protect such landscapes, Shipton decided to pursue law school and study natural resources law—but not before taking a gap year to work (among other jobs) as a ski instructor at Winter Park and a conservation associate at Resource Central, a Boulder-based sustainability nonprofit.

In law school, Shipton has had the opportunity to intern with two federal agencies (the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency) which have granted her key, up-close exposure to some of the nation’s most important environmental laws and conservation regulations. She has also worked as a research assistant for Professor Nadav Orian Peer, where she investigated different ways organizations participate in “climate washing” (making misleading or incorrect claims about the climate benefits of one’s actions) and potential theories of liability for holding organizations responsible.

Outside of her studies, Shipton is the President of the Adventure Club, the Vice President of the Environmental Law Society, and the incoming Managing Editor of the Colorado Environmental Law Journal. She spends nearly all of her free time on public lands, whether that’s running on Boulder’s incredible trail network, camping in Colorado’s state parks on summer weekends, skinning up mountains at sunrise, or competing in skimo and trail races. She is beyond excited to be returning to the environmental nonprofit world this summer as a law clerk in Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain Office. After law school, she plans to pursue a career in public interest natural resources law in the Mountain West. She hope to help protect public lands while also promoting access to these spaces, fostering resiliency amidst the climate crisis, and amplifying historically ignored voices in the conservation conversation.

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