My work centers on understanding and improving the relationship between people, economies, and the natural world. As an economist, photographer, pilot, and outdoorsman, I’ve developed a multifaceted perspective on our challenges, especially environmental and ecosystem issues. I aim to use my experience to help answer key questions and contribute to lasting solutions.

As an economist, I’m dedicated to deepening our understanding of how human societies and natural systems shape one another. My research has focused on the environment of the American West, specifically how climate and weather influence migration and settlement patterns. This lens helps inform decision-making by grounding it in statistics, causal inference, understanding differential responses, and a long-term view of how people interact with their environment.

Photography allows me to document the natural world and encourage others to engage with wildlife conservation. As a contributor to iNaturalist, I’ve documented over 3,600 observations and 900 species, primarily in Colorado, highlighting the richness of local biodiversity. I am especially involved and passionate about mammalian predators and how they interact with human communities, especially agricultural ones. I have hosted and participated in public outreach events, and my photos have been featured in magazines and books, received awards, and played a central role in my acceptance to The Explorers Club.

Outside of photography, I love spending time in the Colorado woods: climbing mountains, navigating, backpacking, tracking and trailing wildlife, hunting, and fishing. I’ve maintained my Wilderness First Responder certification through WMA for my adult life, and I’d be happy to help if you’re hemorrhaging from a moose trampling or have suffered head trauma from a falling rock atop one of Colorado’s mountains. I’ve also climbed over 30 of Colorado’s peaks of 13 thousand feet, including all of the Indian Peaks, excluding Apache—hopefully this spring.

I value public lands and waters highly and feel exceptionally fortunate to have grown up and lived in a place that affords so much access. Maintaining access to Colorado’s backcountry for exploring, climbing, wildlife viewing, hunting, and fishing, powered by two legs, for future generations, is incredibly important to me. Understanding the complex interplay between public lands owned and operated by different entities and private lands and interests, and designing lasting solutions for how to best utilize our lands for biodiversity, stability, and prosperity is my life’s work.

Finally, as a commercially licensed pilot, I work part-time as a tow pilot for Mile High Gliding. My long-term goal is to apply aviation to conservation—using small aircraft for wildlife research, population surveys, and accessing remote areas. This sort of flying is highly demanding and requires years of local experience and expertise. Flying also offers a unique vantage point for conservation work and provides a grounding counterbalance to my other pursuits, which are often more abstract and slower to yield feedback.