Shannon is working with Oregon Wild, a non-governmental organization in Oregon dedicated to the conservation of forests and wildlife across the state. She is researching and developing an alternate model for the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) legislation, which has provided payments to historically timber-dependent counties in order to support them as timber harvests decline. The aim with this reimagined model is to allocate payments based on actions taken to preserve the ecosystem services of public forestlands, rather than historic timber revenues. Ultimately, Shannon hopes to make conservation a priority in efforts to reform the county payments system and introduce another policy tool to advance President Biden’s goal of 30% of land conserved by 2030.
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Please read Shannon’s report, A Sustainable Redesign of the Secure Rural Schools Act by visiting here.
FELLOWSHIP BRIEF
STUDENT RESEARCHER
Shannon Bell, Western Resource Fellow|Shannon is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of the Environment specializing in environmental policy analysis. She is particularly interested in collaborative policymaking and nature-based climate solutions in the Pacific Northwest, especially in her home state of Oregon. Shannon was inspired to return to the landscape where she was born and raised by both her education in environmental science and climate policy as well as her intimate connection with the diverse forest and highland desert ecosystems. She came to Yale after graduating from the University of British Columbia with a B.S. in Honors Environmental Science. See what Shannon has been up to. | Blog