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Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

University of Wyoming

Bim Kendall House

804 E Fremont St

Laramie, WY 82072

Phone: (307) 766-5080

Fax: (307) 766-5099

Email: haub.school@uwyo.edu

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Research Briefs

2021-conservation-leasing-research-brief-thumb.jpg

Let Environmentalists Acquire Extraction Rights to Conserve Natural Resources

Report by Bryan Leonard, Shawn Regan, Christopher Costello, Suzi Kerr, Dominic P. Parker, Andrew J. Plantinga, James Salzman, V. Kerry Smith, and Temple Stoellinger

Antiquated leasing systems bar conservation interests from acquiring public natural resource rights directly, even when they are willing to pay more than extractive industries. The authors of this study held listening sessions with experts and practitioners, and they analyzed economic and legal literature, as well as relevant statutes and regulations to understand potential future solutions. They found that letting conservation interests purchase natural resource rights could benefit state and federal governments and lead to more secure, less fractious conservation outcomes. The authors also outline a series of further research needs to address potential side effects of recognizing such conservation rights.

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Cover of research brief titled "Social License for Wyoming's Energy Future," showing a Wyoming landscape image overlaid with a collage image of energy infrastructure.

Social License for Wyoming's Energy Future: What Do Residents Want?

Report by Jessica Western and Selena Gerace

This two-year study was a collaboration between the University of Wyoming's School of Energy Resources and Ruckelshaus Institute to explore Wyoming residents' perceptions about the state's energy future. The research describes Wyoming citizens' vision for an energy future that is all-inclusive, innovative, and forward-looking, and which considers external market demands and climate change as well as ensures access to reliable low-cost energy, provides a safety net for energy workers, and protects wildlife.

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Cover of research brief titled "Harnessing Visitors' Enthusiasm for National Parks to Advance Landscape Conservation" showing an image of a grizzly bear crossing a highway in a national park in front of a bunch of tourists with cameras.

Harnessing Visitors' Enthusiasm for National Parks to Fund Cooperative Large-Landscape Conservation

Paper by Arthur Middleton,​ Temple Stoellinger,​ Harshad Karandikar,​ Bryan Leonard,​ Holly Doremus,​ and Claire Kremen

In 2018, the Wyoming legislature put forward a proposal to collect a “conservation fee” from visitors to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, suggesting that those who benefit from observing the parks’ abundant wildlife should help shoulder the costs those animals place on the surrounding region. In this study, the authors explore that proposal by assessing different options for collecting a conservation fee from park visitors, examining the legal hurdles to these options, and analyzing their various revenue generating capacities.

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Cover of research brief "Growing Intergenerational Resilience for Indigenous Food Sovereignty through Home Gardening," showing image of a hand holding colorful flint corn kernels.

Growing Intergenerational Resilience for Indigenous Food Sovereignty through Home Gardening

Paper by Rachael Budowle, Melvin Arthur, and Christine Porter

Growing Resilience, a community-based participatory research project designed to promote health and wellbeing, provided installation and maintenance support for home food gardens to 96 primarily Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho families living in the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. The authors of this study investigated how participants’ stories about gardens are rooted in family relationships, knowledge, and practices through time. In present, past, future, and cross-generational frames, families transmitted resilience through gardening across generations.

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Cover of research brief showing image of ranchers herding cows and woman flyfishing.

Climate Change, Agency Decision-Making, and the Resilience of Land-Based Livelihoods

Paper by Corrine Noel Knapp, Shannon M. McNeely, John Gioia, Trevor Even, and Tyler Beeton

Economies including agriculture and recreation rely on public lands, yet permittees are limited in the decisions they can make on these lands. Land management agencies like the Bureau of Land Management have the sole authority to make management choices which directly impact land users. Researchers recognized a need to determine to what extent public land users are vulnerable to climate change, and how public land management agencies can adapt and facilitate the adaptation of permittees.

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Workshop on Improving Cooperative State and Federal Species Conservation Efforts

Improving Cooperative State & Federal Species Conservation Efforts

Paper by Temple Stoellinger, Michael Brennan, Sara Brodnax, Ya-Wei (Jake) Li, Murray Feldman, and Bob Budd

In May 2019, the University of Wyoming’s Haub School and Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources and College of Law, along with Texas A&M University’s Natural Resources Institute and School of Law, convened a workshop that brought together 22 federal ESA and state wildlife conservation experts to reimagine the state-federal relationship and discuss opportunities for states to engage more meaningfully in species conservation efforts. This remarkable conversation resulted in a series of agreements in principle that state and federal agencies can collaboratively take to improve species conservation on the ground.

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Cover of research brief titled "Management of Forests and Forest Carnivores" with a painting of a Canada lynx

Management of Forests and Forest Carnivores: Relating Landscape Mosaics to Habitat Quality of Canada Lynx at Their Range Periphery

Paper by Joe Holbrook, John Squires, Barry Bollenbacher, Russ Graham, Lucretia Olson, Gary Hanvey, Scott Jackson, Rick Lawrence, and Shannon Savage

This study brought together data from multiple studies to evaluate characteristics of high-quality habitat for Canada lynx to assist forest managers in identifying habitat attributes that contribute to the reproductive success of female Canada lynx, a federally threatened species.

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Cover of research brief titled "Modeling Visitor Use on High Elevation Trails: An Example from Long's Peak" with a painting of a mountain

Modeling Visitor Use on High Elevation Trails: An Example from Long's Peak

Paper by Dave Pettebone, Ashley D’Antonio, Abigail Sisneros-Kidd, and Christopher Monz

This study used camera traps to collect visitor use data near the summit of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, to determine if counts from near the trailhead could accurately estimate use at the summit and to provide a framework for using data from a lower elevation, easily accessible area to estimate visitor use in remote, high-elevation locations.

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Cover of research brief titled "Using Practitioner Knowledge to Expand the Toolbox for Private Lands Conservation" with a photo of a hay field

Using Practitioner Knowledge to Expand the Toolbox for Private Lands Conservation

Paper by Drew E. Bennett, Liba Pejchar, Beth Romero, Richard Knight, and Joel Berger

This study assesses familiarity with seven private land conservation strategies to identify knowledge gaps and provide expert opinion on how well these tools work.

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Cover of research brief titled "Hunting and Mountain Sheep: Do Current Harvest Practices Affect Horn Growth?" showing an image of a wild bighorn sheep.

Hunting and Mountain Sheep: Do Current Harvest Practices Affect Horn Growth?

Paper by Tayler N. LaSharr, Ryan A. Long, James R. Heffelfinger, Vernon C. Bleich, Paul R. Krausman, R. Terry Bowyer, Justin M. Shannon, Robert W. Klaver, Clay E. Brewer, Mike Cox, A. Andrew Holland, Anne Hubbs, Chadwick P. Lehman, Jonathan D. Muir, Bruce Sterling, and Kevin L. Monteith

Horn size in a population of bighorn sheep in Canada declined due to intense hunting pressure. This raised the question of how current hunting practices might be affecting horns more broadly. Hunting can reduce mountain sheep horn size by removing older animals from a population and skewing the herd toward younger animals with smaller horns or by removing animals with genetic material for large horns from the herd. Researchers at the Haub School examined tens of thousands of harvest records of bighorn sheep from the western US and Canada to determine whether hunting pressure was causing genetic change in bighorn sheep herds.

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Read about this study in the Casper Star-Tribune


Endangered Species Act Research Brief, 2018, cover

Wildlife Issues are Local – So Why Isn't ESA Implementation?

Paper by Temple Stoellinger

This research brief summarizes a legal analysis exploring the legislative history of the Endangered Species Act and making an argument for strengthening the role of states in conserving listed species. The study, by Haub School assistant professor and co-director for the Center for Law and Energy Resources in the Rockies, Temple Stoellinger, was published in UC Berkeley School of Law’s Ecology Law Quarterly.

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Mule Deer and Energy Development Research Brief, 2017, brief cover

Mule Deer and Energy Development

Paper by Hall Sawyer, Nicole Korfanta, Ryan Nielson, Kevin Monteith, and Dale Strickland

This study investigated the long-term impacts of energy development on mule deer in the Upper Green River Basin of western Wyoming. The researchers used telemetry data from 184 deer across a 17-year period to determine whether deer habituated to energy development and if their response varied with winter severity.

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Contact Us

Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

University of Wyoming

Bim Kendall House

804 E Fremont St

Laramie, WY 82072

Phone: (307) 766-5080

Fax: (307) 766-5099

Email: haub.school@uwyo.edu

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