Stephen Swallow

Stephen Swallow is originally from St. Louis and came to the North Country of New York after meeting his spouse, June, at Cornell University and spending time with family in the Thousand Islands region, especially Chippewa Bay.

At Cornell, he earned a B.S. in wildlife and natural resource management before studying resource economics for his Ph.D. at Duke University. He has been a Professor at the University of Connecticut for over 10 years (after serving at the University of Rhode Island for over 23 years), with expertise in environmental and natural resource economics.

As a researcher, he has focused on economic issues in ecosystem management and ecosystem services (the benefits that nature provides for human well-being), including understanding whether and how individuals value farm, forest, and open space land conservation, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, forest management alternatives, and watersheds and water quality.  He has conducted extensive surveys identifying the tradeoffs that the public prefers for alternative environmental outcomes, and he has led or co-led experiments and surveys to identify the value people have for trading water quality credits affecting the Ohio River, restoring seagrass near Virginia’s Eastern Shore, valuing water quality in rivers and Streams throughout the northeast (Maryland to Maine), valuing public access to coastal waters, assessing how wind energy development may affect rural, agricultural communities with natural resource-based tourism, and creating better means for like-minded individuals to contribute to conservation (such as by co-creating the Bobolink Project now operated by MassAudubon).

In leisure time, Stephen fights the harsh environment of the North Country by repairing his home on Chippewa Bay all the while dreaming of future fishing or hunting excursions. He regularly hikes the Indian River Lakes Conservancy trails and ice fishes on the Indian River Lakes.

Stephen Swallow, Vice-Board Chair