2025-2026
Assessing Economic Benefits of Natural Resource Stewardship Investments in Western Montana
UHPSI Research Assistants Owen Luo and Salma Huque worked with the Blackfoot Challenge to quantify the economic benefits of their conservation investments in the local community. Read more here…
Investigating Producer Responses to Grasshopper Outbreaks on Western Rangelands
UHPSI research assistants Alexia Zolenski and Jack Newman investigated producer (farm and ranch) responses to grasshopper and Mormon cricket outbreaks in central and eastern Montana and eastern Oregon. Read more here…
2024-2025
Understanding the Landscape Factors that Influence Habitat Selection and Movement for Pronghorn in Southwestern Montana
Jeremy Pustilnik collaborated with biologists at the National Wildlife Federation and the Southwest Montana Sagebrush Partnership to model pronghorn habitat selection and movement across southwestern Montana. Read more here…
Transforming Transportation in Crested Butte, Colorado for a Sustainable Future
Student research assistants developed strategies to transform the transportation network in Crested Butte, Colorado from automobile-centric to one that prioritizes buses, cycling, and walking. Read more here…
Building Bridges: Mapping Beaver Conflicts and Solutions in Montana
Xiaofan Shen created two interactive mapping tools to visualize beaver conflicts and highlight successful mitigation strategies across Montana. Read more here…
2023-2024
Local Payment for an Ecosystem-Service-Model for Working Lands Stewardship
UHPSI research assistants explored possibilities of developing a payment-for-ecosystem services model to support stewardship of wet meadows using low-tech methods on conserved working lands in the Yampa Valley. Read more here…
A Monitoring Plan for Beaver Wellbeing and Hydrologic Impacts
UHPSI research assistant Alex Wells developed a monitoring plan that evaluated both beaver wellbeing and the impacts of this charismatic keystone species on downstream water rights at TNC’s Tensleep Preserve. Read more here…
2022-2023
Funding Priorities for Improving Ecological Value and Agricultural Viability on Colorado Rangelands
Kathleen Voight worked with the Additive Conservation department of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) to determine funding priorities for their internally-managed Agricultural Resiliency Fund. Read more here…
A Systems Thinking Approach to Wood Processing and Forest Health in Wyoming
Julia Chen and Jake Barker collaborated with The Nature Conservancy-Wyoming to investigate strategies to improve forest health and resilience through targeted forest restoration in Wyoming. Read more here…
Evaluating Mesic Restoration Efforts in Montana with Geospatial Tools
In conjunction with The Nature Conservancy-Montana (TNC), Montana Conservation Corps (MCC), and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), our team created a protocol to evaluate the impacts of low-tech structures that have been installed in central Montana. Read more here…
2021-2022
Understanding the Impacts and Implications of Rural Gentrification in the American West
In partnership with Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative (NRCC), the project team examined the impacts and implications of rural gentrification for local government policies, local conservation NGOs, and the agricultural industry. Read more here…
Improving Restoration Funding for Working Lands in Colorado
Our student team researched sustainable finance models and fund structures to inform the development and implementation of this new resiliency fund. Read more here…
2020-2021
Exploring Inherding as a Grazing Practice for Conservation and Rangeland Health in the West
UHPSI research assistants partnered with Texas A&M University-Kingsville and a Wyoming ranch to study the feasibility of implementing inherding in the western U.S. Read more here…
Recreation and Conservation Planning for Fishers Peak State Park
In partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Colorado, our research team worked across ecological and recreational decision-making processes to help inform planning and management for Colorado’s new Fishers Peak State Park. Read more here…
Stillwater-Rosebud Water Quality Initiative Conservation Planning
Our team worked to design and deploy a portfolio of GIS tools for the Stillwater Valley Watershed Council, focusing specifically on the Rosebud Creek. Read more here…
Innovative Risk & Reward Sharing Between Farmers and the Supply Chain for Biodynamic and Organic Grain, Pulse and Oil Seeds
UHPSI research assistants worked with Vilicus Farms to review and compile strategies for sharing risk and rewards across non-food supply chains and propose ways to implement and adopt them in the food supply chain. Read more here…
Elkhorn Mountain Conifer Density Survey
Will Weinberg used geospatial analysis and remote sensing to determine conifer density and potential encroachment in the Elkhorn Mountain region. Read more here…
Collaborative Rangeland Monitoring and Management in Montana
Our research team partnered with RMG to identify key indicators to use in range monitoring and operationalize them for the Northern Great Plains ecosystems based on existing literature and ranchers’ on-the-ground experiences. Read more here…
Wildlife-Friendly Ranching in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Rory Jacobson and Anna-Sophia Haub worked with partners at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, and the University of Pittsburgh to study ranchers’ perspectives on conservation and wildlife management in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Read more here…
Western Speaker Series
Each year, UHPSI hosts a western speaker series focusing on conservation and stewardship issues in the American West. The series may be one focused event or several small events spanning several topics. The student assistants worked with UHPSI staff to plan presentations, career chats, or training by a series of western conservation professionals. The series was virtual this year, and we were excited to create opportunities for Yale students to hear from and connect with leaders in their fields of interest. Read more…
2019-2020
Solar Feasibility Study for Tensleep Preserve in North Central Wyoming
UHPSI research assistants worked in partnership with The Nature Conservancy’s Tensleep Preserve to conduct a solar feasibility study for the preserve. Read more here…
Development of a Feasibility Tool to Evaluate Grassbank Potential in Thunder Basin, Wyoming
Our team worked with The Nature Conservancy Wyoming to research the feasibility of a creative approach to grassland conservation in the Thunder Basin region of Wyoming. Read more here…
Highlighting Indigenous Relationships in the West
Meghanlata Gupta shared a variety of news articles, videos, and images that discuss how Indigenous communities collaborate with governments to pursue shared management and conservation objectives in the western United States. Read more here…
Communicating Vegetation Response after Fire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest
Our student research assistants partnered with Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) in Wyoming to create a report on the stand dynamics of postfire vegetative regeneration and management implications. Read more here…
Engaging Youth and Underserved Communities in Land Management and Project Review Processes for the Bridger-Teton National Forest
UHPSI research assistants worked with the Bridger-Teton National Forest to map community networks that will facilitate the forest in engaging local Latino and youth communities in future efforts. Read more here…
Reconciling Landownership and Sage-Grouse Management Designation Data
This is an inter-agency project led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey which aimed to provide reconciliation of differences where possible. Read more here…
Impacts of Recreation on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
In partnership with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, UHPSI research assistants investigated trends, conditions, and projections surrounding recreation in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) to identify possible recreation ethics for the region. At the closure of this project, the UHPSI team and the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative recommended next steps to building a recreation ethic and will make their findings available to the public in a paper. Read more here…
Western Speaker Series 2019-2020
The Western Speaker Series connects conservation professionals and Yale students to explore and discuss a range of issues facing land stewardship in the American West. The Symposium Coordinators worked with UHPSI staff to plan presentations, career chats, and technical training by western conservation professionals that provide our students with valuable knowledge and insight. The 2019-2020 Western Speaker Series included topics such as organic dry land farming, wild land fires and fire ecology, climate impacts and ecological resilience, conservation within socio-ecological systems, and Indigenous land management. Read more here…
Climate Vulnerability in the Crown of the Continent
UHPSI students collaborated with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to assist with a Landscape Conservation Design (LCD). The Crown Managers Partnership created this design to model spatially-explicit future conditions in the Crown of the Continent ecosystem, which encompasses parts of Montana, Alberta and British Columbia. The products of this work included spatially-explicit climate vulnerability analyses and recommendations for conducting future vulnerability assessments for the LCD. Read more here…
Conservation Planning for Sheridan County, WY
Our research assistant team worked in partnership with the Sheridan Community Land Trust to develop a conservation planning mapping tool to guide future private land conservation efforts. They incorporated a variety of spatial data from public sources to help SCLT prioritize and direct its funding and outreach in cooperation with its organization’s goals to protect wildlife and working ranches in Sheridan County. Read more…
Estimating Utah Prairie Dog Survival Using Camera-trap Data
One of our research assistants worked with the Utah Bureau of Land Management to analyze trends in plague-induced prairie dog mortality. The Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens) is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Alongside habitat destruction, sylvatic plague is a major cause of their population decline. Read more here…
Increasing Adoption of Grasslands Avoided Conversion (GAC) Carbon Projects
Climate and Forest Capital has partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund on an NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant to research economic incentives that could increase the adoption of conservation practices on US working lands. One of the primary strategies being investigated utilizes a Climate Action Reserve protocol that measures greenhouse gas reductions resulting from the “avoided conversion” of grassland into cropland in areas. Read more here…
Understanding Socio-economic Change and Implications for the Future of the Bridger-Teton National Forest
Our student research team working with the Bridger-Teton National Forest to compile and analyze socioeconomic data related to the shifting demographics of three very different counties in western Wyoming. They researched academic literature in the fields of geography, sociology, and economics which relate to the interplay between public lands and local communities. Read more here…
Organizing and Implementing the Western Speaker Series
The Symposium Student Coordinators organized the Western Speaker Series, which connects knowledgeable conservation professionals with Yale students to learn about and discuss issues facing the American West. The coordinators worked with the UHPSI staff to plan presentations and panel discussions on campus with speakers who bring valuable insight and perspectives on the past and future of Western conservation efforts. Read more here…