My core research, work, and intellectual interests lie in understanding how humans interact with their environment in the context of land use, aridity, wildlife, and energy systems in the American West. I am excited to be starting several new projects on western wildfires, the impact of natural disasters, and the effects of nutrient runoff on water quality. Below are previous publications, a few working papers, and a brief description of my field research on wildlife. 

Publications and forthcoming

Sichko, C., A. Zimran, and A. Howlader. 2025. “Environmental migration and race during the Great American Drought, 1935–1940.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Sichko, C., 2025. “Environmental migration during the Great American Drought.” Journal of Economic Geography.

Burnett, W., C. Sichko, J. O’Hara, B. Garmig, and M. Bowman. 2024. “How could payments for U.S. climate-smart farming practices change the regional adoption of conservation practices?” Environmental Research Communications, 6(12), 125007.

Baldwin, K., B. Williams, D. Turner, F. Tsiboe, S. R. Skorbiansky, C. Sichko, J. Jones, and S. Toossi. 2024. “U.S. Agricultural Policy Review, 2023.” USDA Economic Research Service.

Hinson, A., G. McCarty, L. Du, C. Sichko, and K. Maguire. 2024. “Native bee pollination ecosystem services in agricultural wetlands and riparian protected lands.” Wetlands, 44(8), 116.

Sichko, C., 2024. “Migrant Selection and Sorting during the Great American Drought.” World Development, 181, 106632.

Muhammad, A., C. Sichko,and T. Olson. 2023. “African Americans and Federal Land Policy: Exploring The Homestead Acts of 1862 and 1866.” Applied Economics Perspectives and Policy, 46(1), 95-110.

Baldwin, K., B. Williams, C. Sichko, F. Tsiboe, S. Toossi, J. Jones, D. Turner, S. Raszap-Skorbiansky. 2023. “U.S. Agricultural Policy Review, 2022.” USDA Economic Research Service.

Warziniack, T., K. Bagstad, M. Knowles, C. Mihiar, A. Nehra, C. Rhodes, L. Sanchez, C. Sichko, and C. B. Sims. 2023. Natural Capital Accounting on Forested Lands. In M. Bohman, E. Fenichel, and N. Muller (Eds.) Measuring and Accounting for Environmental Public Goods: A National Accounts Perspective. University of Chicago Press.  

Selected Works in Progress

C. Sichko. Urban Migration and Climate Immobility: U.S. Heat Stress

This paper examines the impact of abnormally high temperatures on migration from urban areas across the United States. I use individual-level data from the 2005 to 2023 American Community Surveys, matched with county-level normalized weather and climate data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I begin by estimating the relationship between heat and migration using quasi-experimental regression analysis and find that, on average, unusually high heat reduces the likelihood of individual migration, with the strongest effects observed among those working in outdoor occupations. Although this pattern is novel in the context of the modern U.S., it aligns with a growing body of literature on climate immobility, which suggests that a key risk of global warming is the inability of vulnerable populations to relocate, producing trapped populations. To extend the analysis, I apply machine learning random forest models, incorporating climate forecast data from Localized Constructed Analogs (LOCA), to identify regions and cities in the United States where climate-driven immobility is likely to be most severe in the coming years and decades.

C. Sichko and A. Zimran. The Returns to Disaster Migration: Evidence from the Great American Drought, 1930 to 1940

How migrants fare at their destinations is key to assessing whether migration is a viable response to environmental shocks. However, little is known about the outcomes of environmental migrants. We use individual-level linked census data and county-level drought records to examine how drought migrants fared compared to non-migrants and non-drought migrants. We find that migrants had lower occupational standing in 1940, due to higher unemployment than similar non-migrants from their origin counties. Outcomes were similar between drought and non-drought migrants, suggesting that environmental migrants did not fare uniquely worse. However, returns to migration varied: men with little formal education and from farm backgrounds faced the highest unemployment at their destinations. These findings inform our understanding of labor market opportunities across the skill distribution, the experiences of disaster migrants, and, given the overwhelming negative returns to migration, how to conceptualize migration in times of environmental and economic stress, perhaps as survival-driven rather than opportunity-seeking.

C. Sichko. Predators, Policy, and the Economics of Ranching in the American West

This paper uses an applied microeconomics lens to study predators and livestock production in the Western United States. I assemble a county–year panel from the 1990s to the present, linking predator exposure (wolf pack-occupied ranges, grizzly recovery zones, and mountain-lion distribution proxies) to agricultural outcomes (livestock inventories, farm entry–exit, and revenue). Causal identification leverages staggered recolonization in difference-in-differences and event-study. The contribution is a policy-relevant empirical framework and data framework for quantifying how shifting predator distributions intersect with ranch profitability, entry and exit, and local land-use—evidence that can inform the design of compensation and support programs.

Wildlife Field Research

I maintain a set of camera traps across Boulder County. From these traps, I have transcribed over 3.5 thousand observations and have begun organizing the data into figures and visualizations. The figures below show predator movements through the day and year. The large drop-off in bobcat and coyote observations during the spring and summer coincides with flooding of agricultural ditches. Bobcats and coyotes use agricultural ditches extensively (when they aren’t flooded) to move through well-trafficked areas and stay out of sight. This utilization of irrigation ditches is an example of how wildlife adapts to human infrastructure—and how our seasonal cycles (irrigation, grazing, and land management) shape when and where animals can move. If you have specific questions about predator movements or suggestions for using this data, please reach out. I have highlighted predators here, but the data includes any animal who has triggered a camera trap—100 species and counting.