The Fort Collins Science Center’s Policy Analysis and Science Assistance (PASA) Branch is a team of approximately 22 scientists, technicians, and graduate student researchers. PASA provides unique capabilities in the U.S. Geological Survey by leading projects that integrate social, behavioral, economic, and biological analyses in the context of human–natural resource interactions. Resource planners, managers, and policymakers in the U.S. Departments of the Interior (DOI) and Agriculture (USDA), State and local agencies, and international agencies use information from PASA studies to make informed natural-resource management and policy decisions. PASA scientists’ primary functions are to conduct both theoretical and applied social science research, provide technical assistance, and offer training to advance performance in policy-relevant research areas. Management and research issues associated with human-resource interactions typically occur in a unique context, involve difficult-to-access populations, require knowledge of both natural and biological science in addition to social science, and require the skill to integrate multiple science disciplines. In response to these difficult contexts, PASA researchers apply traditional and state-of-the-art social science methods drawing from the fields of sociology, demography, economics, political science, communications, social psychology, and applied industrial organization psychology. These social science methods work in concert with our rangeland/ agricultural management, wildlife, ecology, and biology capabilities. The goal of PASA’s research is to enhance natural-resource management, agency functions, policies, and decisionmaking. Our research is organized into four broad areas of study.

Revised February 7, 2013

First posted May 13, 2010