Kenneth J. Bagstad, Ph.D.
Ken Bagstad is a Research Economist working with the USGS’ Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center in Denver. He uses GIS and modeling to quantify, map, and value ecosystem service flows across the United States and internationally.
Ken co-leads work to develop natural capital accounts in the United States at national and regional scales and use this information to support resource management for federal government agencies. Ken has also co-led the development of content for the Artificial Intelligence for Environment & Sustainability (ARIES) project, which has developed software tools to deliver more timely and accurate information for environmental decision making. Through his work on ARIES, Ken has a long-standing interest in the use of artificial intelligence, particularly semantics and machine reasoning, to make scientific data and models interoperable and reusable by both people and computers.
From 2015-2016 Ken was seconded to the World Bank's Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) Program as a Senior Environmental Specialist. He coordinated the development of ecosystem accounts and their application to national economic accounts in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Rwanda, and assisted with their development elsewhere. For the last several years he has co-taught an ecosystem services modeling course in Spain, and in 2015 he worked in Japan as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science research fellow.
Professional Experience
Research Economist, USGS GECSC, 2013-present
Senior Environmental Specialist, Seconded to the Word Bank, 2015-2016
Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow, USGS, 2011-2013
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. (Natural Resources, certificate in ecological economics), University of Vermont
M.S. (Plant Biology, concentration in ecology), Arizona State University
B.A. (Botany and Environmental Studies), Ohio Wesleyan University
Science and Products
Quantifying landcover drivers of urban extreme heat by generating nationwide and city-specific analytical models
Land Change Science
Reanalyzing and Predicting U.S. Water Use using Economic History and Forecast Data; an experiment in short-range national hydro-economic data synthesis
Accounting for natural capital: building the numbers to track and sustain the nation’s natural resources
Ecosystem Services Assessment and Valuation
Ecosystem Services Valuation Pilot Study
Accounting for U.S. ecosystem services at national and subnational scales
Animal Migration and Spatial Subsidies: Establishing a Framework for Conservation Markets
Urban landcover differentially drives day and nighttime air temperature across a semi-arid city
Spatial social value distributions for multiple user groups in a coastal national park
Data release for Piloting Urban Ecosystem Accounting for the United States
Data release for Accounting for Land in the United States: Integrating Physical Land Cover, Land Use, and Monetary Valuation
Data release for Integrating physical and economic data into experimental water accounts for the United States: lessons and opportunities
Data release for Linking land and sea through an ecological-economic model of coral reef recreation
Perceived Social Value of the Sonoita Creek Watershed using the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) Tool, Arizona, U.S.A.
Data Release for Testing ecosystem accounting in the United States: A case study for the Southeast
Data Release for Toward ecosystem accounts for Rwanda: Tracking 25 years of change in ecosystem service potential and flows
A national dataset of rasterized building footprints for the U.S.
Data release for ecosystem service flows from a migratory species: spatial subsidies of the northern pintail
Data Release for The sensitivity of ecosystem service models to choices of input data and spatial resolution
Urban tree cover provides consistent mitigation of extreme heat in arid but not humid cities
Leveraging natural capital accounting to support businesses with nature-related risk assessments and disclosures
The economics of decarbonizing Costa Rica's agriculture, forestry and other land uses sectors
An interoperability strategy for the next generation of SEEA accounting
The future of ecosystem assessments is automation, collaboration, and artificial intelligence
Can we avert an Amazon tipping point? The economic and environmental costs
Opportunities for businesses to use and support development of SEEA-aligned natural capital accounts
Water-use data in the United States: Challenges and future directions
Spatial social value distributions for multiple user groups in a coastal national park
Urban landcover differentially drives day and nighttime air temperature across a semi-arid city
Assessing the accuracy and potential for improvement of the national land cover database’s tree canopy cover dataset in urban areas of the conterminous United States
The global environmental agenda urgently needs a semantic web of knowledge
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
Quantifying landcover drivers of urban extreme heat by generating nationwide and city-specific analytical models
Land Change Science
Reanalyzing and Predicting U.S. Water Use using Economic History and Forecast Data; an experiment in short-range national hydro-economic data synthesis
Accounting for natural capital: building the numbers to track and sustain the nation’s natural resources
Ecosystem Services Assessment and Valuation
Ecosystem Services Valuation Pilot Study
Accounting for U.S. ecosystem services at national and subnational scales
Animal Migration and Spatial Subsidies: Establishing a Framework for Conservation Markets
Urban landcover differentially drives day and nighttime air temperature across a semi-arid city
Spatial social value distributions for multiple user groups in a coastal national park
Data release for Piloting Urban Ecosystem Accounting for the United States
Data release for Accounting for Land in the United States: Integrating Physical Land Cover, Land Use, and Monetary Valuation
Data release for Integrating physical and economic data into experimental water accounts for the United States: lessons and opportunities
Data release for Linking land and sea through an ecological-economic model of coral reef recreation
Perceived Social Value of the Sonoita Creek Watershed using the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) Tool, Arizona, U.S.A.
Data Release for Testing ecosystem accounting in the United States: A case study for the Southeast
Data Release for Toward ecosystem accounts for Rwanda: Tracking 25 years of change in ecosystem service potential and flows
A national dataset of rasterized building footprints for the U.S.
Data release for ecosystem service flows from a migratory species: spatial subsidies of the northern pintail
Data Release for The sensitivity of ecosystem service models to choices of input data and spatial resolution
Urban tree cover provides consistent mitigation of extreme heat in arid but not humid cities
Leveraging natural capital accounting to support businesses with nature-related risk assessments and disclosures
The economics of decarbonizing Costa Rica's agriculture, forestry and other land uses sectors
An interoperability strategy for the next generation of SEEA accounting
The future of ecosystem assessments is automation, collaboration, and artificial intelligence
Can we avert an Amazon tipping point? The economic and environmental costs
Opportunities for businesses to use and support development of SEEA-aligned natural capital accounts
Water-use data in the United States: Challenges and future directions
Spatial social value distributions for multiple user groups in a coastal national park
Urban landcover differentially drives day and nighttime air temperature across a semi-arid city
Assessing the accuracy and potential for improvement of the national land cover database’s tree canopy cover dataset in urban areas of the conterminous United States
The global environmental agenda urgently needs a semantic web of knowledge
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.