Rangeland Sustainability: Social, Ecological, and Economic Assessments

About Aaron HarpJohn TanakaKristie MaczkoMatt Reeves

Dr. Kristie Maczko is a Research Scientist at the University of Wyoming and Executive Director of the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable (SRR). She was previously the co-director of Colorado State Universitys Rangeland Resources Institute. Dr. Maczko has spent over 18 years working with federal and state agency personnel policy experts professional societies producer groups and other stakeholders to advance common understanding of sustainable rangeland ecosystems. Most recently she has worked with SRR teams surveying social and economic characteristics of ranchers. In addition Kristie represents the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable on the US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. She serves as vice-chair for an inter-university research group studying ecological and economic resilience of rangeland systems. She also is a member of the National Grazing Lands Coalitions Advisory Committee. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology from Colorado State University M.S. from University of Memphis and a B.A. and B.S. from Rutgers University. Dr. John Tanaka is currently an Emeritus Professor at the University of Wyoming and working part-time for the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable. He has a BS and MS in Rangeland Resources from Oregon State University and PhD in Range Science with emphasis on range economics from Utah State University. He was a rangeland economist with Oregon State University and research scientist at the OSU Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center focusing on sustainable ranching. Dr. Aaron Harp is currently working part-time for the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable focusing on social indicators of sustainability. He earned a B.A. in Economics at California State University Sacramento an M.S. in Agricultural Economics and a Ph.D. in Rural Sociology both from Penn State University. He was an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Rural Sociology in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at the University of Idaho from 1992 to 2000. Since 2000 he has consulted for government agencies and private entities seeking insights into relationships between natural resource and public land policies and the economic and social organization of rural communities. Dr. Matthew Clark Reeves (Matt Reeves) is a Research Ecologist with the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula. He received his BS in Range Management (1995) MS in Environmental Resources (1999) and his PhD in Remote Sensing and Ecological modeling of rangeland and agricultural environments (2004). Matt specializes in applying remote sensing and modeling to characterizing ecological dynamics of rangelands. His research follows four basic themes including climate change vegetation dynamics anthropogenic disturbance and decision support tools such as digital state & transition simulation models for improving management efficacy.