Contact Information
Campus address
About
I was born in Florida and grew up on Florida's Gulf Coast. After receiving my undergraduate degree from New College in Sarasota, I ventured west, working for the National Park Service and in other conservation-oriented positions. I received my M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Oregon State University, working at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff in between. After receiving my doctoral degree in 2011, I spent two years as a visiting assistant professor at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington and five years as a research associate at the Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment at the University of Oregon.
Research
My work on natural resource governance and policy spans diverse forest and rangeland environments from the United States to Argentina, focusing on the participation of local communities and local- to regional-scale organizations in environmental governance, policy implementation, and institutional change. Key themes in his scholarship include: adaptive, participatory, and network governance; co-management and co-production; alternatives to traditional state- and market-led approaches to conservation and development; and the dynamics of rural community engagement with natural resource stewardship and conservation. Recent research projects include: an investigation of the feedbacks between mountain pine beetle epidemics, policy and governance responses, and forest management strategies, an interdisciplinary investigation of the ecological and social implications of intensive bioenergy feedstock production across North and South America; an examination of the institutional design and outcomes of a community-based rangeland fire management program in Oregon and Idaho; and an investigation of the roles of intermediary organizations in rural community development and natural resource stewardship.
Abrams, J., E. Pischke, M. A. Mesa Jurado, A. Eastmond, C. Silva, and C. Moseley. Between environmental change and neoliberalism: The effects of oil palm production on livelihood resilience. Society and Natural Resources https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2018.1544678.
Abrams, J., H. Huber-Stearns, M. Luviano Palmerin, C. Bone, M. Nelson, R.P. Bixler, and C. Moseley. 2018. Does policy respond to environmental change events? An analysis of mountain pine beetle epidemics in the western United States. Environmental Science and Policy 90: 102-109.
Abrams, J., E. Nielsen, D. Diaz, T. Selfa, E. Adams, J. Dunn, and C. Moseley. 2018. How do states benefit from non-state governance? Evidence from forest sustainability certification. Global Environmental Politics 18(3): 66-85. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00470
Abrams, J., K. Wollstein, and E.J. Davis. 2018. State lines, fire lines, and lines of authority: Rangeland fire management and bottom-up cooperative federalism. Land Use Policy 75: 252-259.
Maier, C. and J. Abrams. 2018. Navigating constraints: A street-level perspective on national forest management in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Land Use Policy 70: 432-441.
I am interested in innovative approaches to teaching, including experiential and collaborative teaching approaches that can be used in place of or alongside traditional lecture and discussion formats.