Cathy Cullinane Thomas
Biography
Cathy Cullinane Thomas is an economist with the Fort Collins Science Center Social and Economic Analysis Branch. Cathy specializes in regional economic impact modeling, data collection, survey analysis, and data visualization, and she uses these skills to support Department of Interior agencies with questions about the economic impacts and contributions of programs, projects, and management alternatives. Since joining the USGS in 2010, Cathy has built models to estimate the jobs and business activity associated with National Park visitation, Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Refuge management, and ecological restoration projects. Cathy also has expertise in decision analysis processes and simulation modeling and has used these tools to help researchers develop decision-relevant science and to develop invasive species spread models and scenario analyses.
Education:
- M.S. Colorado State University, Natural Resource Economics, 2010
- B.S. Colorado State University, Mathematics, 2003
Science and Products
Economics of Outdoor Recreation
Planning and managing recreation areas is a series of choices, and not a day goes by that that manager doesn’t face a question, which at its roots, is often economic.
Documenting, Mapping, and Predicting Invasive Species Using the Fort Collins Science Center's RAM (Resource for Advanced Modeling)
The Resource for Advanced Modeling room provides a collaborative working environment for up to 20 scientists, supported with networked, wireless computing capability for running and testing various scientific models (e.g., Maxent, Boosted Regression Trees, Logistic Regression, MARS, Random Forest) at a variety of spatial scales, from county to global levels. Models use various predictor layers...
Economics and Ecosystem Services
Federal policymakers and land managers are accountable to the public for how they use public resources and for the outcomes of policy and management decisions. Through a variety of economic analyses and custom modeling, SEA economists evaluate how investments and management decisions affect individuals, local communities, and society as a whole.
National Park Service Visitor Spending Effects
The National Park Service (NPS) manages the Nation’s most iconic destinations that attract millions of visitors from across the Nation and around the world. Trip-related spending by NPS visitors generates and supports a considerable amount of economic activity within park gateway communities. USGS economists collaborate with the National Park Service social science program to estimate NPS...
Economic Impacts of Ecological Restoration
Federal investments in ecosystem restoration projects protect Federal trusts, ensure public health and safety, and preserve and enhance essential ecosystem services. These investments also generate business activity and create jobs. However, limited information exists on the costs and associated economic impacts of ecosystem restoration projects due to the complexity of the “restoration...
State-and-Transition Simulation Models of Buffelgrass in Saguaro National Park (2014-2044) to explore ecological uncertainties
This is a spatially-explicit state-and-transition simulation model of buffelgrass dynamics in Saguaro National Park, AZ. Buffelgrass is an invasive grass spreading in the park. The model represents uninvaded and invaded parts of the desert ecosystem and includes a connection to a fire behavior model. The model was built using the ST-Sim software platform linked to the FARSITE fire behavior...
Assessing ecological uncertainty and simulation model sensitivity to evaluate an invasive plant species’ potential impacts to the landscape
Ecological forecasts of the extent and impacts of invasive species can inform conservation management decisions. Such forecasts are hampered by ecological uncertainties associated with non-analog conditions resulting from the introduction of an invader to an ecosystem. We developed a state-and-transition simulation model tied to a fire behavior...
Jarnevich, Catherine S.; Young, Nicholas E.; Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Grissom, Perry; Backer, Dana M.; Frid, Leonardo 2019 National park visitor spending effects: Economic contributions to local communities, states, and the nation
The National Park Service (NPS) manages the Nation’s most iconic destinations that attract millions of visitors from across the Nation and around the world. Trip-related spending by NPS visitors generates and supports economic activity within park gateway communities. This report summarizes the annual economic contribution analysis that measures...
Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Koontz, Lynne
Economic impacts of Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative Conservation projects in Wyoming
Executive SummaryThis report estimates the economic impacts on the Wyoming economy from investments made by the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) on conservation and restoration projects. The WLCI has been working in southwestern Wyoming since 2007 to coordinate science and management decisions among government and private entities...
Huber, Christopher; Flyr, Matthew; Cullinane Thomas, Catherine Estimating visitor use and economic contributions of National Park visitor spending
This chapter provides an overview of the National Park Service (NPS) methods for estimating visitor spending and calculating economic contributions of visitor spending in terms of jobs supported, wage and labor income, and total economic activity. The Visitor Spending Effects model combines visitor spending patterns and trip characteristic data...
Koontz, Lynne; Cullinane Thomas, Catherine
Economic effects of wildfire risk reduction and source water protection projects in the Rio Grande River Basin in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado
Investments in landscape-scale restoration and fuels management projects can protect publicly managed trusts, enhance public health and safety, and help to preserve the many environmental goods and services enjoyed by the public. These investments can also support jobs and generate business sales activities within nearby local economies. This...
Huber, Christopher; Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Meldrum, James R.; Meier, Rachel; Bassett, Steven Agri-tourism and rural outdoor recreation in the US: A framework for understanding economic and employment dynamics
Agri-tourism and rural outdoor recreation are positioned at an important intersection between agricultural, natural resource, economic development and rural issues. This chapter summarizes some of the important dynamics of these sectors, including the role of land use, regional drivers, motivations for farmers and travelers, and economic impacts....
Thilmany, Dawn; Hill, Rebecca; Haefele, Michelle; van Sandt, Anders; Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Sullins, Martha; Low, Sarah Developing an expert elicited simulation model to evaluate invasive species and fire management alternatives
Invasive species can alter ecosystem properties and cause state shifts in landscapes. Resource managers charged with maintaining landscapes require tools to understand implications of alternative actions (or inactions) on landscape structure and function. Simulation models can serve as a virtual laboratory to explore these alternatives and their...
Jarnevich, Catherine S.; Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Young, Nicholas E.; Backer, Dana M.; Cline, Sarah A.; Frid, Leonardo; Grissom, Perry National Park Service socioeconomic monitoring pilot survey: Visitor spending analysis
The National Park Service (NPS) is in the process of establishing a formal socioeconomic monitoring (SEM) program that will provide a standard visitor survey instrument and a long-term, systematic sampling design for in-park visitor surveys. The development of the pilot SEM survey provided the opportunity to add to the set of available visitor...
Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Cornachione, Egan; Koontz, Lynne; Keyes, Christopher R. 2018 National Park visitor spending effects: Economic contributions to local communities, states, and the nation
No abstract available.
Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Koontz, Lynne; Cornachione, Egan Economic Impacts of Restoration in National Parks
The National Park Service’s (NPS) Resource Protection Branch (RPB) works with parks under the authority of the System Unit Resource Protection Act (SURPA) and the Oil Pollution Act, among others, to conduct damage assessment and restoration activities for NPS resources that have been injured. Funds used for restoration support jobs in local...
Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Van Gilder, Noah; VanMouwerik, Mark 2017 National Park visitor spending effects : Economic contributions to local communities, states, and the Nation
The National Park Service (NPS) manages the Nation’s most iconic destinations that attract millions of visitors from across the Nation and around the world. Trip-related spending by NPS visitors generates and supports a considerable amount of economic activity within park gateway communities. This economic effects analysis measures how NPS visitor...
Cullinane Thomas, Catherine M.; Koontz, Lynne; Cornachione, Egan 2016 National Park visitor spending effects: Economic contributions to local communities, states, and the Nation
The National Park Service (NPS) manages the Nation’s most iconic destinations that attract millions of visitors from across the Nation and around the world. Trip-related spending by NPS visitors generates and supports a considerable amount of economic activity within park gateway communities. This economic effects analysis measures how NPS visitor...
Cullinane Thomas, Catherine; Koontz, Lynne