Stanford research teams tackle environmental impacts of U.S. policy

(Press-News.org)  

Federal priorities related to environmental protection, climate change, energy development, wildfire risk reduction, and the federal workforce have shifted rapidly over the past year, with potentially far-reaching consequences for ecosystems and public health. These changes represent a marked departure in U.S. policy direction and create an urgent need for research that can track how new policies are implemented and how their impacts unfold in real time. To help meet that need, the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment has awarded special Environmental Venture Projects (EVP) grants of up to $100,000 over two years to research teams examining the environmental implications of recent U.S. policy changes across areas including climate, health, food, water, oceans, and biodiversity.

The EVP program is established and supported by the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, alongside the Realizing Environmental Innovation Program (REIP). Regular EVP grants provide up to $250,000 per team to seed innovative projects, while REIP offers up to $500,000 to advance existing research toward real-world solutions. Since their launch, the EVP and REIP programs have awarded more than $35 million to support interdisciplinary environmental research at Stanford. Together, these grants have supported 207 teams across all seven Stanford schools in 37 countries, and have leveraged over $100 million in additional funding.

Read about the special policy-related EVP projects below.

 

Tracking forest policy rollbacks in a sentinel forest

Kate Maher, Earth System Science

This project will track the ways in which recent federal policy changes are reshaping the management of public lands — especially around logging, road construction, and environmental oversight. By building a prototype system that flags new forest projects as they are proposed, the research will help identify where key safeguards like public input and scientific review are being bypassed or weakened. At the same time, the project will create detailed ecological “before and after” snapshots to assess how these new policies affect forest health on the ground. By making both agency actions and ecological outcomes visible, these tools will support public oversight and enable long-term accountability.

Sociopolitical Impacts of Cancelled Clean-Energy Projects

Sara Constantino, Environmental Social Sciences 

This project examines how the public perceives and responds to clean-energy investments from the Inflation Reduction Act amid recent policy rollbacks. Leveraging variation created by stalled, delayed, and canceled projects, the study will use a geographically targeted longitudinal survey in affected communities to assess how partisanship, local economic impacts, and energy context shape public attitudes. The survey will be complemented by analysis of local economic effects and media coverage. The goal is to understand why policies with broad material benefits remain politically vulnerable and how policy uncertainty influences public support for climate action.

Climate impacts on migration and wellbeing in rural Guatemala

Claire Adida, Political Science

This project will study how recent U.S. immigration and foreign aid policy changes are affecting rural families in climate-vulnerable areas of Central America. As remittances decline and NGO funding is cut, households face greater difficulty coping with climate shocks. Through a large-scale household survey with Mercy Corps in rural Guatemala, the research will document how families living in climate-affected areas are adapting and where existing programs help or fall short. By making these impacts visible, the project will inform more effective climate adaptation and development policies in this new policy environment.

Regenerative agriculture and the future of soil health

Aidee Guzman, Biology

This project will examine how changes in federal farming and pesticide policies affect the environment and small farmers. The current administration sends mixed signals: supporting soil health in some areas while cutting climate programs and allowing greater pesticide use in others. This uncertainty puts farmers and communities at risk, especially those who rely on healthy soil for their livelihoods. The project will work directly with small farms in California’s San Joaquin Valley to study how pesticide use and regenerative practices, such as crop diversity, influence soil health, biodiversity, and long-term farm resilience. By producing clear, farm-level evidence, this project will provide practical tools for farmers and science-based guidance for policymakers, helping ensure that decisions about regenerative agriculture are driven by evidence rather than politics.

Forecasting the impact of losing whale protections

Jeremy Goldbogen, Oceans

This project will study how proposed rollbacks to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) could affect whales and coastal economies. These laws have helped whale populations recover since the 1970s, supporting billions of dollars in economic activity and thousands of jobs in the Blue Economy. Focusing on humpback whales along the U.S. West Coast, the project will examine how weakening these protections could increase whale deaths from fishing gear entanglements, which are already more than double what endangered populations can sustain. Climate change is making these risks worse by pushing whale prey closer to shore and reducing its nutritional value. The project will model whale population outcomes under different policy scenarios, predict future whale habitat, and provide practical science to NOAA’s Take Reduction Team. Overall, this work will show why federal protections matter, the dangers of weakening them, and what non-government solutions could help protect whales and ocean ecosystems if federal action declines.

Planning for flood impacts on human health in California

Steve Gorelick, Earth System Science

This project will study how inland and coastal flooding affects human health, including deaths and the spread of infectious diseases. Although floods pose serious health risks, their direct health impacts are not well understood because of limited data and lack of strong causal analysis. As FEMA’s capacity has been weakened, there is an urgent need for clear evidence on how floods affect public health. This project will use human-centered machine learning to identify the causal links between flooding and health outcomes. By combining health data, flood records, remote sensing, and flood models, this work will produce reliable, actionable policies for flood preparedness and health risk management. The results will be shared through publications, policy briefs, and easy-to-use maps that identify areas at high risk for future flood-related health impacts. This framework will help guide local mitigation strategies, protect vulnerable communities, and improve emergency planning across California, with the potential to scale to nationwide analysis.

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