Kimiko Barrett, Ph.D.

This report reviews problems with the current federal royalty system, estimates current effective royalty rates, and offers several reform options.

A sample of research and free tools available to help communities better understand the potential socioeconomic impacts of climate change.

This report provides an overview of the Blackfoot River watershed’s economy and summarizes the findings from six focus groups that explored potential economic opportunities.

This report examines whether the Tongass Transition Framework, which proposed a “new path forward,” is working to enhance economic opportunities in southeast Alaska while conserving the National Forest.

Getting the economics right is important for communities to compete in a modern economy. We’ve created a number of tools to help rural, western communities better understand current trends as well as the role of the nearby National Forest or other public lands.

Compared to other nations and even U.S. states, the federal government is a conspicuous laggard in creating a natural resources trust which would allow for stable, permanent, and ever rising payments to states and local governments without risks to taxpayers.

Lower oil prices could be great for the economy, but for the communities dependent on drilling, the price drop may prove challenging for several reasons.

The West is rich in renewable energy opportunities, but research demonstrates that property tax revenues from this development vary widely across 17 rural study counties due to state tax policies.

Monitoring can help local governments better understand the socioeconomic impacts caused by energy development, and support requests to industry and state government for assistance to implement appropriate mitigation.

This paper reviews the experience of national floodplain management programs to draw lessons for new approaches to reduce the costs and risks posed by wildfire to properties in the Wildland-Urban Interface.