Featured Projects

My featured projects explore critical aspects of urban sustainability, water scarcity along the Colorado River basin, land use management in the west, and legislative research, analysis, and advocacy. They include in depth analysis of federal and state environment policies, infrastructure strategies, with a focus on innovative solutions and equity driven outcomes. Deliverables are available upon request.

Project Samples

Sustainable Land Use Practices

Traditional development practices have been recognized by industry professionals, academics, and conservationists for having a slew of negative impacts on health, resource management, and wildlife. Many municipalities in Colorado have already begun to incentivize more sustainable development practices, but participation is voluntary. Prescriptive regulation would standardize development practices, facilitate better incentives, and help develop more sustainable urban environments.

Western Water Scarcity and Necessary Policy Changes

Western water scarcity is a critical issue driven by increasing demand, prolonged droughts, and the impact of climate change. States in the western United States, which rely heavily on overallocated resources like the Colorado River, face growing challenges in balancing agricultural, municipal, industrial, and ecological needs. The crisis is exacerbated by aging infrastructure, inefficient water use practices, and legal frame works that were designed in an era of assumed abundance. Western water scarcity requires transformative policy changes.

Gunnison Sage Grouse ESA Listing

The Gunnison Sage Grouse (GUSG) is considered an indicator species for the sagebrush ecosystem of southwestern Colorado and Eastern Utah at elevations of 5,000-7,000 ft.[i] The highest density of GUSG occurs within the Gunnison Basin in Gunnison County, Colorado. Habitat requirements for the Gunnison Sage Grouse require large expanses of sagebrush with a diversity of grasses, forbs, and insects for both food and cover.[ii] Male grouse conduct very elaborate courtship displays on very specific breeding ground called leks which are returned to year after year. Ongoing habitat destruction and fragmentation has led to low genetic diversity with overall GUSG populations estimates at 3,220 to 3,950 birds.[iii] In 2014 the US Fish and Wildlife designated the GUSG as threatened. Natural and manmade factors such as: livestock grazing, land surface disturbance, avian predators, high loyalty to lekking sites, noise aversion, and susceptibility to West Niles Virus all negatively impact GUSG. [iv], [v]

An endangered listing gives the most protection under the ESA from “take” of a species, defined in the ESA as “to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.” A threatened listing gives more flexibility for wildlife management; under section 4(d) of the ESA more or less protections can be given to a species listed as threatened.

[i] (Colorado State University 2024)[ii] (Young 2015)[iii] (Cornell Lab of Ornithology n.d.)[iv] (Western Colorado Ecological Services Field Office 2019)[v] (Erik M. Molvar 2014)

An Act Respecting Alien Enemies

An Act Respecting Alien Enemies since 1798 has allowed the United States government to intern or restrict enemy aliens during a time of declared war. It is codified as 50 U.S.C. §§ 21-24. The act is commonly known as Alien Enemies Act was part of series of legislation, the Alien and Sedition Acts, enacted during a tumultuous post revolution period where a nation was figuring out their governing system. In the early years of the United States, Framers of the Constitution such as James Madison "viewed as fundamental the distinction between alien enemies and alien friends." "The Act states any invasion or predatory incursion perpetrated, attempted or threatened against the territory of the United States," when the President shall make a proclamation of the event, all "natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government" over the age of fourteen "shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies." The Act authorizes the President to determine as to enemy aliens, the manner and degree of the restraint to which they shall be subject and in what cases, and upon what security their residence shall be permitted, and to provide for the removal of those who, not being permitted to reside within the United States, refuse or neglect to depart, and "to establish any other regulations which are found necessary in the premises and for the public safety." In 1918 Congress amended the act to include women who could then have the distinction of alien enemy.

Under Construction

Please check back winter 2025 for more projects.

I am a graduate student specializing in Environmental and Natural Resources Policy at the University of Colorado in Boulder. My interests include water policy, urban sustainability, global environmental politics, and advancing environmental justice.

Education and CV