Interests:
international forestry; natural resource economics, management and valuation of tropical forests for non-timber products and services, woodland management by limited resource farmers (project webpage)
 
 

Student Research Topics (through spring 2002):
 

Ginger Deason, MNR 1999	"Combining Non-Timber Forest Products and Selective Logging: Can it Increase Profits on Programme for Belize's Lands?"  Currently: Coordinator of the Appalachian Forest Resource Center at Rural Action (Ohio).
Deepak Chhabra,  PhD 2001	"Heritage Tourism: An Analysis of Perceived Authenticity and Economic Impact of the Scottish Highland Games in North Carolina" Currently: Assistant Professor, Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, California State University, Sacramento.
Becky Bowers	MNR Student, currently works for FEOP
Luis Carrasco,  MS in 2002	Environmental impact studies of transportation projects in NC Currently: PhD student in the Department of Forestry
Kirsten Cassingham,  MS 2001	"Voluntary Conservation: Private landowner participation in North Carolina's Natural Heritage Program"  Currently: Employed by USGS.
Jeannette Espinoza	Determinants and effects of deforestation in the tropics.  Currently: Consultant with Oficina de Programacion Macroeconomica and teaching at the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello, Venezuela.
Kelly Jones	MI student, currently with Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa.
Erin Mirrett , MNR 2000	Agroforestry Practices on Organic Farms in the US.  Currently: Farm Program Manager at Oregon Tilth.
Committee Membership	Niken Sakuntaladewi, Rachel Jui-Chi Chen, Brian Depenbrock, Francis Gonese

International Research (through 2001):

Brazil
U.S.D.A. Forest Service - Tapajós National Forest Ecotourism Project (1995-1997) and Guaraqueçaba Ecotourism Assessment Project (1993-1995) - in collaboration with Dr. Tom Holmes , US Forest Service

Publications and reports include:
Forestry Private Enterprise Initiative Working Papers:
-Sills, Erin O. And V.Y. Müller, 1997. "Nature Tourism in Protected Areas of the Atlantic Coastal Forest of Brazil," FPEI Working Paper 60. Research Triangle Park, NC: USDA Forest Service.
-Sills, Erin O., V.Y. Müller, F.W. Cubbage, T.P. Holmes, J.M. Pye, and J.E. Wagner, L.M. Marques, J.L. Binns, and D.C. Riggsbee, 1997. "Analysis of the Potential for Ecotourism in the Northern Littoral of Paraná, Brazil: Project Summary," FPEI Working Paper 61. Research Triangle Park, NC: USDA Forest Service.
-Holmes, Thomas P., J. Tanner, E.O. Sills, and S.S. da Silva, 1997. "The Potential Demand for Ecotourism in the Tapajós National Forest," FPEI Working Paper 62. Research Triangle Park, NC: USDA Forest Service.
Latin American Studies Working Paper:
-Pattanayak, Subhrendu and E.O. Sills, 1999. "Do Tropical Forests Provide Natural Insurance?" Working Paper No. 23. Durham, NC: Duke University.
Conference paper:
-"Forest Management Practices by Indigenous and Migratory Populations: Diversification and Deforestation," with Jill Caviglia, presented at the 2000 Western Agricultural Economics Association Meetings
Article:
-Sills, Erin O., and V.Y. Müller, 1996. "Domestic Nature Tourism in Brazil's Protected Areas: Can Brazilian Tourists Save the Brazilian Rainforest?," Southeastern Council on Latin American Studies Annals, 27: 68-80.
Forthcoming:
-"Developing Non-Timber Forest Resources in the Brazilian Amazon: Determinants of Household Participation" Proceedings of the 2000 Southern Forest Economics Workshop, Lexington, KY.

Federal University of Pará - Associate Researcher, extractive reserves and non-timber forest products (1990-1991)

Publications and reports include:
-"Trade Relations in the Amazon: the Evolution of the Brazil Nut Trade in Amapá, Brazil," presented at the Latin American Studies Association, Washington, D.C., September, 1995.
- "Reservas Extrativistas do Amapá: Possibilidades de Beneficiamento e Comercialização da Castanha do Brasil do Pará," report to the World Wildlife Fund. Curitiba, PR, Brazil: Instituto de Estudos Amazônicos, 1991, with Augusto Cesar Fayet.

Indonesia
Biodiversity Conservation Project
Evaluation of non-market benefits and potential costs of Siberut and Ruteng National Parks Field work conducted January - April 1996 - directed by Dr. Randy Kramer , Duke University, in collaboration with Dr. Subhrendu Pattanayak , Research Triangle Institute

Publications and reports include:
Dissertation: "Ecotourism as an Integrated Conservation and Development Strategy: Econometric Estimation of Demand by International Tourists and Impacts on Indigenous Households on Siberut Island, Indonesia", December 1998
Conference proceedings: "Options for Estimating and Influencing Local Collection of Forest Products" Proceedings of the 1998 Southern Forest Economics WorkShop, Williamsburg, VA.
Manuscripts under revision: "Seeing the Forests for the Fuel: A Travel Cost Application", and "National Parks as Development Projects: Gauging Local Support", with Subhrendu Pattanayak and Randy Kramer.
 
 

Household production theory is an appropriate conceptual framework for modeling the collection of forest products by rural households. Within that framework, three empirical strategies are proposed for estimation of output supply models to identify potential policy handles for integrated conservation and development programs. In an application to Siberut National Park, a model of rattan supply is estimated with a shadow wage calculated as the marginal returns to labor from a production function. Household collection of rattan is sensitive to the opportunity cost of household labor, as well as to the quality of that labor and fixed inputs in rattan collection.

Managers of multiple-use forest areas in the tropics are often encouraged to assist resident and neighboring populations to market the non-timber benefits of those areas, thus giving them an incentive to conserve the forest. Markets for non-timber forest products (resins, nuts, etc.) are often very thin, however, with fluctuating prices and few households participating. In this situation, one method for predicting whether households would participate in an expanded market is through contingent behavior survey questions. Using household survey data, this study develops and estimates models of the determinants of (a) actual collection and (b) collection or cultivation contingent upon a proposed marketing project for andiroba oil in the Tapajós National Forest of Brazil. The actual and contingent behavior models have different implications for project management.