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James R Meldrum, PhD

James Meldrum is an economist in the Social and Economic Analysis Branch at the Fort Collins Science Center. His primary research focus is measuring, modeling, and understanding human relationships with natural resources. 

James' economics and applied social science work spans many areas of interest to the USGS and our federal and non-federal partners. His main research topics include measuring, modeling, and understanding human relationships with natural resources, especially through the lens of ecosystem services, and with natural hazards, especially focused on mitigating the risks of wildland fire. James is a founding member of the Wildfire Research (WiRē) Team, an interdisciplinary collaboration focused on coproducing science in support of community wildfire adaptedness and wildfire risk mitigation on private lands, and he is an active participant in numerous USGS- and DOI-wide communities of practice. 

Research Interests

  • Environmental economics
  • Wildfire risk mitigation
  • Ecosystem services
  • Behavioral economics