Emily J Wilkins, PhD

Emily Wilkins is a Research Social Scientist in the Social and Economic Analysis Branch (SEA) at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center. Broadly, she conducts human dimensions research to help inform public land and outdoor recreation management. Emily earned her Ph.D. at Utah State University in environment and society with a specialization in climate adaptation science. She also has a M.S. in forest resources from the University of Maine, and a B.S. in environmental science and policy from Drake University. She enjoys programming in R, working with geospatial data, and conducting survey research to help better understand visitors to public lands. Her past research has focused on how weather and climate change impact visitors, and how to use freely available online data (e.g., social media) to help inform park and protected area management. Emily’s current research involves working with the Bureau of Land Management to create a National Recreation Visitor Data Program, as well as building a Values Mapping for Planning in Regional Ecosystems data collection application.