Hawai'i

Gretchen Daily, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology
Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University

Daily, an ecologist whose work ranges from conservation science to environmental policy analysis to public outreach, is one of three founders of the Natural Capital Project and serves as its chief emissary to financial and government leaders. She is working to develop a scientific basis - and political and institutional support - for managing Earth's life-support systems. Daily has published more than 150 scientific and popular articles. Her most recent book is “The New Economy of Nature: The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable,” coauthored with journalist Katherine Ellison (2002, Island Press). She serves on the boards of The Nature Conservancy and the Beijer International Institute for Ecological Economics, and at Stanford she is Director of the Center for Conservation Biology.

Liba Pejchar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Colorado State University

Pejchar is directing the Natural Capital Project’s efforts to map natural assets on the Big Island of Hawai'i. She is also designing policy tools and incentives for upland forest conservation. Pejchar has studied the ecology and behavior of Hawaiian honeycreepers extensively for the last eight years. She found that one rare species, the Akiapolaau, thrives in koa plantations, a native tree highly valued for its luminous wood. Her results suggest that land-owners could reap both ecological and economic benefits by planting koa. Pejchar received a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies from Middlebury College.

Josh Goldstein, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Colorado State University

Goldstein works to develop financial strategies to pay for conservation across diverse biophysical and socioeconomic contexts. In collaboration with the InVEST team, he is applying the mapping and valuation models in Hawaii, where he has worked for the past three years. Goldstein's research interests focus on combining ecological and economic information to guide investments in natural capital. He received a Ph.D. from the Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford University and a B.A. in Biology from Williams College.