Scholars@Duke
Lydia Olander

Lydia Olander

Adjunct Professor in the Division of Environmental Social Systems
Environmental Social Systems
lydia.olander@duke.edu
Box 90335, Durham, NC 27708-0328
2117 Campus Drive, Rm 212, Durham, NC 27708

Scholarly Works - Reports

Impacts of Forest Thinning and Clearcutting on Plant and Animal Species Richness in North American Forests: A Meta-Analysis

Report · April 13, 2026 Understanding how different intensities of timber harvesting affect species richness for plants and animals in North American forests will enable natural resource managers to better control the impacts of harvesting on flora and fauna communities. Previous ... Open Access Link to item Cite

An Updated Meta-Analysis of Thinning and Clearcutting Impacts on Carbon Storage in North American Forests

Report · March 25, 2026 Working forests serve an important role in providing timber products. At the same time, these forests are expected to contribute to mitigating climate change through carbon sequestration (removing carbon from the atmosphere) and by replacing high-emission ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Building a Stronger, Safer, and More Energy-Smart North Carolina—A Workshop Summary

Report · July 24, 2025 Almost a year after Hurricane Helene poured over western North Carolina, the region is rebuilding—and communities and businesses across the state are reckoning with the increased likelihood of extreme weather events. In June, Duke University’s Nicholas Ins ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Evaluation of Publicly Accessible Nature-Based Solutions Databases as Sources for Evidence of Effectiveness

Report · July 24, 2024 Nature-based solutions (NBS) are “actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural or modified ecosystems to address societal challenges, simultaneously providing benefits for people and the environment” (White House Council on Environmental Qual ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Department of the Interior Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap

Report · December 11, 2023 This comprehensive resource, created in collaboration with the US Department of the Interior, is a first-of-its-kind reference for implementing nature-based solutions (NBS). Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natu ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Expanding Finance for Nature-Based Solutions to Achieve Climate, Environment, and Community Goals: An Introduction for Green Banks and Community Lenders

Report · November 14, 2023 Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, manage, or restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges, simultaneously benefiting people and nature. There has been unprecedented recent government investment in nature-based soluti ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Financing Nature-Based Solutions via the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

Report · November 14, 2023 For the past decade, state and local green banks have successfully accelerated private investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and environmental infrastructure projects in their specific geographies. While green banks have historically focused p ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Assessing the Effects of Management Activities on Biodiversity and Carbon Storage on Public and Private Lands and Waters in the United States

Report · April 13, 2023 Natural and working lands (NWLs) provide many benefits to people, including storing greenhouse gases (GHGs), supporting biodiversity, and generating other ecosystem services. Management of NWLs can influence their condition and function and therefore the b ... Open Access Link to item Cite

A Menu of State Actions to Promote Forest Carbon Sequestration and Storage

Report · May 27, 2022 Across the U.S., states are developing policies and programs to help promote forest-based natural climate solutions. This effort is bolstered by a growth in forest carbon programs that aim to make entry into the voluntary carbon offset market accessible to ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Tracking the Benefits of Natural & Working Lands in the United States: Dataset Evaluation and Readiness Assessment

Report · March 16, 2022 Natural and working lands (NWL) in the United States provide many benefits, including food, climate mitigation, recreational opportunities, jobs, and many more. There is currently no coordinated approach in the United States to track how provision of these ... Open Access Link to item Cite

GEMS Phase II Report: Coastal Restoration

Report · July 16, 2021 Billions of dollars will be spent on large-scale restoration of Gulf ecosystems over the coming decades, but there is currently no shared platform to guide assessment and reporting of restoration progress and effectiveness for the broad set of environmenta ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Offset Potential for Cultured Milk Protein

Report · March 18, 2021 Cultured milk proteins are proteins manufactured in a lab through fermentation rather than from traditional animal farming methods. These proteins are identical to those found in milk (casein and whey), but are created using bacteria or fungi instead of an ... Open Access Link to item Cite

USFS Predictive Model Library: Fire and Timber Management

Report · April 17, 2020 The concept of ecosystem services has been formalized into U.S. Forest Service decision-making over the past decade in response to the 2012 Forest Planning Act and Agency regulations and directives, but many practical questions remain about how to do this ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Compensatory Mitigation on Federal Lands

Report · February 6, 2020 As compensatory wetland and stream mitigation expands, particularly in the western United States, the availability and prominence of federal lands will become increasingly relevant in affecting the execution of mitigation. Moreover, as land management agen ... Open Access Link to item Cite

GEMS Phase I Report: Oyster Reef Restoration

Report · February 3, 2020 Billions of dollars will be spent on large-scale restoration of Gulf ecosystems over the coming decades, but there is no shared platform to guide assessment and reporting of restoration progress and effectiveness for the broad set of environmental, social, ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Bigger Change Faster

Report · September 2019 Today’s greatest sustainable development challenges can only be solved if we work together more effectively across the global development, health, and environmental communities. This report, co-authored by the Bridge Collaborative and UNDP, highlights thre ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Trends in Measuring Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Mitigation Quantification Methodologies

Report · May 2, 2019 Over the last decade, efforts to use compensatory mitigation to manage and ameliorate the impacts of development on biodiversity and ecosystems around the world have accelerated. Mitigation mechanisms provide a structured way to advance economic developmen ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Workshop Guide: Using Facilitation Techniques to Integrate Ecosystem Services into Coastal Management Decisions

Report · February 18, 2019 Estuarine systems are areas of immense ecological importance and provide numerous social, economic, and environmental benefits. The strong link between healthy habitats and these benefits requires incorporating the concerns of both nature and people into c ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Building Ecosystem Services Conceptual Models

Report · September 5, 2018 Funders and developers of infrastructure projects and businesses and managers overseeing critical natural resources are becoming increasingly aware of and interested in ecosystem services. Although methods for incorporating ecosystem services into decision ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Ecosystem Services Conceptual Model Application: Bureau of Land Management Solar Energy Development

Report · September 5, 2018 Interest in using ecosystem services to integrate considerations of people and the environment continues to grow in federal agencies. One method that can help agencies incorporate ecosystem services into decision making is the use of ecosystem services con ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Ecosystem Services Conceptual Model Application: NOAA and NERRS Salt Marsh Habitat Restoration

Report · September 5, 2018 Interest in using ecosystem services to integrate considerations of people and the environment continues to grow in federal agencies. One method that can help agencies incorporate ecosystem services into decision making is the use of ecosystem services con ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Ecosystem Services Conceptual Model Application: Testing General Model Adaptability

Report · September 5, 2018 This case study, a companion to Ecosystem Services Conceptual Model Application: NOAA and NERRS Salt Marsh Habitat Restoration summarizes initial efforts to apply a general salt marsh ecosystem services conceptual model to specific sites. The case study pr ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Bridge Collaborative Practitioner’s Guide: Principles and Guidance for Cross-sector Action Planning and Evidence Evaluation

Report · October 25, 2017 The health, development and environment sectors increasingly realize that they cannot achieve their respective goals by acting in isolation. Yet, as they pivot to act collectively, they face challenges in finding and interpreting evidence on sectoral inter ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Increasing the Engagement of Large Private Forestland Owners in Conservation Management

Report · October 17, 2017 The involvement of large private and institutional forestland owners in conservation has been recognized as increasingly important for the successful implementation of landscape-scale conservation. However, public and non-governmental organization partners ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Data and Modeling Infrastructure for National Integration of Ecosystem Services into Decision Making: Expert Summaries

Report · July 17, 2017 Resource managers face increasingly complex decisions as they attempt to manage for the long-term sustainability and the health of natural resources. Incorporating ecosystem services into decision processes provides a means for increasing public engagement ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Use of Preservation in North Carolina Wetland and Stream Mitigation

Report · March 27, 2017 To better protect the nation’s wetlands and streams, the Clean Water Act allows use of compensatory mitigation to replace the benefits of lost wetlands and streams. This study summarizes North Carolina’s use of preservation for compensatory mitigation by p ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Integrating Large-Scale Planning into Environmental Markets and Related Programs: Status and Trends

Report · March 1, 2017 Building on earlier efforts, guidance from the federal government on mitigation for environmental impacts recommends the use of large-scale plans, preferably carried out in advance of impacts, to steer both development and mitigation. The idea is that adva ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Proposal for Increasing Consistency When Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making

Report · November 15, 2016 In October 2015, the U.S. Executive Offices of the President—the Office of Management and Budget, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy—released a memo, “Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Federal Decision ... Open Access Link to item Cite

A Review of the Use of Early-Action Incentives in U.S. Environmental Markets

Report · September 20, 2016 Early action can refer to activities undertaken prior to a regulatory program or the generation of a particular service before its use to mitigate an impact elsewhere. In U.S. environmental markets, early action can result in multiple benefits. One benefit ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Best Practices for Integrating Ecosystem Services into Federal Decision Making

Report · July 20, 2015 Federal agencies take many actions that influence ecosystem conditions and change the provision of ecosystem services valued by the public. To date, most decisions affecting ecosystems have relied on ecological assessments with little or no consideration o ... Open Access Link to item Cite