I am an environmental geographer who studies the market and non-market values of forest ecosystems. How forests are valued–as well as how those values are compared and traded-off against those of alternative land uses–plays an important role in creating incentives for forest clearing and, conversely, for forest conservation. Understanding the different components of forest value is essential for creating more effective conservation and sustainable management policies and interventions.I am currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Potts Research Group at the University of California, Berkeley. In the Potts Group, I am studying the co-benefits of management interventions in the California forest sector. This work will contribute to California’s interagency effort (via the Forest Climate Action Team) to develop a sustainable plan to achieve California’s forest carbon sequestration goals.
Prior to arriving in Berkeley, I completed my PhD under the supervision of Dr. Oliver Coomes in McGill University’s Department of Geography. My doctoral research focused on frontier dynamics and land use in the upper Amazon in the San Martin region of Peru. In particular, I studied how human migration, land markets, and forest conservation programs interact with each other and, in turn, structure the development of frontier areas in the Peruvian Amazon. I continue to collaborate with Dr. Coomes and others on topics relating to frontier development in the Amazon.