The overarching goal of her work at the University of Oregon has been to understand the social and political dynamics that inhibit sustainable rural development and rural community resilience, and to find solutions that will improve those dynamics. Her research has focused on the way in which natural resource policies affect the well-being of rural communities, businesses, and workers; how communities organize to participate in the decisions that affect their landscapes and livelihoods; what can be done to improve community resilience in the face of changing ecological, economic, and political conditions; how to create governance systems that are better able to address socio-ecological complexity.

 Her work is interdisciplinary and methodically diverse; she collaborates with a broad array of social scientists including geographers, sociologists, economists, and anthropologists as well as biophysical scientists. She has an active research portfolio with awards from diverse agencies, nonprofits, and foundations such as USDA, US Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, National Science Foundation, and Ford Foundation.  In addition to resulting peer-reviewed journal publications and co-authored books, her work has been used by policy makers and practitioners. For example, her work on the forest and watershed restoration economy has been cited in major Forest Service policy documents and congressional testimony. It played a key role in educational materials that the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board created in the lead up to the permanent reauthorization of funding for watershed restoration and salmon recovery and in the economic assessment that underpinned the Oregon Governor’s Eastside Forest Strategy and associated legislation. Her work on wildfire has been featured in pieces by Oregon Public Broadcasting, Think Out Loud, High Country News, Science Daily, and TV news.