NatuRE Policy Lab

Frederik Strabo presented preliminary work modeling how competition between adjacent landowners can shape their incentives to invest in forest fire prevention. The combination of historical land use practices and climate change have greatly increased the risk and severity of forest fires. Landowners can mitigate these risks by investing in costly interventions like forest thinning. They can also adjust to these risks by changing when (and if) they harvest the trees in their forests.

TJ Anderson discussed ongoing work evaluating the effectiveness of disease management practices in the Chilean salmon aquaculture industry.  In Chile, Atlantic Salmon are raised in large floating cages called net pens located in near-shore waterways. The net pens hold salmon while they are raised, allowing for the free flow of sea water in and out of the cage.

Kyumin Kim presented a research project he is developing studying the value of forecasting jellyfish blooms for commercial fisheries. Jellyfish blooms occur when jellyfish populations experience rapid growth, and they occur at high densities. Although jellyfish are natural parts of marine ecosystems, when they occur in these large numbers, they can interfere with commercial fisheries by damaging equipment and changing the behavior of target species.

Prof. Jim Wilen gave a lecture on the history of resource economics as a field and how it has changed over time, along with people’s relationship to their environment. Early thinking presented a dreary view, with scholars like David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus predicting that land and food would be critical factors limiting growth and development.

Laura Alcocer Quinones presented plans for a study estimating the health effects of exposure to PFAS (per and polyalyfluoral substances) in drinking water. Exposure to PFAS is associated with kidney disease and complications during pregnancy, such as preeclampsia. However, little is known about the precise relationships between health outcomes and exposure to PFAS through drinking water.