Ryan Steen is a partner in the Environment, Land Use and Natural Resources group, and focuses his practice on environmental litigation and regulatory counseling. Ryan has extensive experience litigating high-stakes natural resources disputes, particularly those involving claims asserted under the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In addition to his litigation practice, Ryan advises clients on a variety of regulatory matters including ESA listings, 4(d) rules, and the designation of critical habitat; ESA Section 7 consultation; incidental take authorization under the ESA and the MMPA; NEPA review; federal management of fisheries and hatcheries; forest practices; authorization of offshore oil and gas activities; and CWA discharge and fill permitting.
Ryan's clients include trade associations and individual organizations in the oil and gas, fisheries, forestry, hydroelectric power, mining, tourism, and geophysical exploration industries.
Before starting his legal career, Ryan worked as a fisheries biologist for the University of Washington. In that position, he managed a large-scale salmon research program in Southwest Alaska, studied salmon habitat and ecology, and advised a commercial fishery on the population dynamics and run timing of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon.