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Chapter 9: Other States Begin
to Act While the United States
Constitution Remains Silent
An overview of the environmental provisions in the 50 state constitu-
tions reveals a bleak scene.1
Consider the following.
• Fourteen states have no environmental provision in their constitution:
Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryla nd, Missouri,
Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, South Dakota, Wash-
ington, and West Virginia.
• Seventeen states have provisions limited to the right to hunt and sh:
Arkansas, California,2 Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Da kota, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
• Seven states explicitly protect hunting and shing rig hts, but also have
another environment-related provision: Alabama, Louisiana, Montana,
North Ca rolina, R hode Island,3 Texas, and Virginia.
• Utah and Colorado4 have provisions limited to the preservation of
forests.
• Eight states have a provision making conser vation of the environment
and natural resources a matter of “policy”: Alabama, Florida, Illinois,
Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia.
• Eleven states have environmental provisions but also provide that the
legislature shall implement them: Alaska, Illinois, Louisiana, Massa-
1. Appendix III has a chart comparing the environmental provisions of each state to those of Pennsyl-
vania. It also gives the citations needed to nd the relevant provisions in each state constitution. To
see the text of your state constitution, type in your online browser the name of your state followed
by “constitution.”
2. California species the right to sh but not to hunt and trap.
3. Rhode Island protects the right to sh and shore privileges but not the right to hunt or trap.
4. Colorado also establishes the Great Outdoors Colorado Program to preserve wildlife, parks, rivers,
trails, and open space.
