Bio-invasions occur in management mosaics where local control affects spread and damage across political boundaries. We address two obstacles to local implementation of optimal regional control of a bio-invasion that damages public and private resources across jurisdictions: lack of local funds...

Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire), a phloem-feeding beetle native to Asia, was discovered near Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario in 2002. As of March 2009, isolated populations of emerald ash borer (EAB) have been detected in nine additional states and Quebec. EAB is a...

Urban trees can store carbon through the growth process and reduce fossil fuel use by lowering cooling and heating energy consumption of buildings through the process of transpiration, shading, and the blocking of wind. However, the planting and maintenance of urban trees come at a cost. We...

Groundwater management is conducted in spatial aquifers where well pumping results in localized cones of depression. This is in contrast to the single-cell aquifer used in most economic analyses that assumes groundwater depletion occurs uniformly over a study area. We address two aspects of the...

Groundwater use plays an important role in agriculture where the lack of timely rainfall can lower yields. Policy makers strive to conserve ecosystem services, such as groundwater supply, while at the same time providing for economic growth. We develop a spatially explicit landscape level model...

Expanding irrigated agriculture and drought in the Lower Mississippi River Basin have led to large-scale withdrawals of groundwater and a consequent decline in the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer. Conserving the aquifer, while at the same time providing for economic growth, is a...

We study the non-renewals of contracts in the farmland differential assessment program of California. An instrumental variable random-effect model for the location of non-renewals and a hazard model for the timing of non-renewals indicate that counties with high property tax rates have 0.8%...

The conservation community is divided over the proper objective for conservation, with one faction focused on ecosystem services that contribute to human well-being and another faction focused on the intrinsic value of biodiversity. Despite the underlying difference in philosophy, it is not...