Ecological Outcomes of Cannabis Legalization: A multidisciplinary study of cannabis land use change, its social drivers, and environmental outcomes

Parker-Shames is a researcher rooted in the legacy of cannabis farming in counter-culture communities such as the one where she grew up. Her dissertation results from recent field research across Southern Oregon. Her interdisciplinary approach to quantifying land use change contributes to our context-specific understanding of wildlife responses to human development. Ultimately, this research provides results that are timely and may be useful for policy, management, and land use decision-making. Parker-Shames provides descriptive data on cannabis land use and examines its broad scale overlap with wildlife habitat on small scale outdoor cannabis farms in Southern Oregon.