My research program focuses through various lenses of environmental history. (Summaries of my published research can be found at the links to the left.)

In the past, I have studied environmental history primarily in two ways. One is a place-based approach that seeks to examine and understand how past cultures shaped and were shaped by the natural world. These studies, which have examined the American Southwest’s rangelands and watersheds, Idaho’s cutover lands, and the West Coast’s diverse landscapes, reveal much about how cultural practices, state priorities, economic imperatives, and ecological conditions interact and influence one another.

The second approach has investigated individuals who have occupied central places in the American environmental tradition. This research has explored how individuals draw on various intellectual and political ideas to respond to environmental change and reform the management or treatment of nature.

Currently, my research program is in a transitional stage as I wrap up a long-term project and begin new ones. The next set of research that has engaged me speaks in many ways to more practical, contemporary concerns, though the projects themselves remain rooted in interdisciplinary environmental history. Clicking on Projects to the left will describe some of these new areas.