Niki vonHedemann

My research interests lie at the cross section of ecology and human geography, particularly the complex social, political, and economic factors that play into landscape conservation and the impact of environmental protection on human societies.  I am interested in the proliferation of payments for ecosystem services programs as a potential method of ecological management and livelihood improvement. My dissertation research explores the social and environmental impacts of national forestry incentive programs in the Western Highlands of Guatemala to determine if development-linked conservation payments can actually provide benefits to rural land users and create healthier ecosystems. My work as a research associate at Colorado State explored the relative influences of forest management and climate change on the future of forests at regional and continental scales within the U.S.

I have a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Rice University and a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona (UArizona) in Geography.