Travis, William Riebsame

Associate Professor

Positions

Faculty Director, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
Associate Professor, Geography

Research Areas

Geography

Research

research overview

Prof. Travis studies the interaction of nature and society, including the human dimensions of natural hazards, climate change, and natural resources management. His current projects focus on: human response to extreme climate change; decision-making under climate uncertainty; and trends in natural and technological hazards.

keywords

Social dimensions of natural hazards and climate change, risk and decision analysis

Publications

selected publications

book
chapter
journal article
- Fostering the Development of Earth Data Science Skills in a Diverse Community of Online Learners: A Case Study of the Earth Data Science Corps. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education. 3-15. 2025
- The dynamic feasibility of resisting (R), accepting (A), or directing (D) ecological change. Conservation Biology. 2024
- Scenario-Based Decision Analysis: Integrated scenario planning and structured decision making for resource management under climate change. Biological Conservation. 2023
- The role of adaptive capacity in incremental and transformative adaptation in three large US Urban water systems. Global Environmental Change. 2023
- Experiments in ranching: Rain-index insurance and investment in production and drought risk management. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. 1513-1533. 2022
- Recent droughts in the United States are among the fastest-developing of the last seven decades. Weather and Climate Extremes. 2022
- Fires that matter: reconceptualizing fire risk to include interactions between humans and the natural environment. Environmental Research Letters. 2022
- US fires became larger, more frequent, and more widespread in the 2000s. Science Advances. 2022
- Harnessing the NEON data revolution to advance open environmental science with a diverse and data-capable community. Ecosphere. 2021
- Uncertainty, Complexity and Constraints: How Do We Robustly Assess Biological Responses under a Rapidly Changing Climate?. Climate. 2021
- Risky Development: Increasing Exposure to Natural Hazards in the United States. Earth's Future. 2021
- Navigating Climate Adaptation on Public Lands: How Views on Ecosystem Change and Scale Interact with Management Approaches. Environmental Management (New York): an international journal for decision-makers, scientists and environmental auditors. 614-628. 2020
- The New (Ab)Normal: Outliers, Everyday Exceptionality, and the Politics of Data Management in the Anthropocene. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 932-943. 2020
- y Social-Environmental Extremes: Rethinking Extraordinary Events as Outcomes of Interacting Biophysical and Social Systems. Earth's Future. 2020
- A climate knowledges approach to climate services. Climate Services. 2020
- Socio-environmental extremes: rethinking extraordinary events as outcomes of interacting biophysical and social systems 2019
- Evaluating Alternative Drought Indicators in a Weather Index Insurance Instrument. Weather, Climate and Society. 629-649. 2019
- Drought in urban water systems: Learning lessons for climate adaptive capacity. Climate Risk Management. 32-42. 2019
- Robert W. Kates (1929-2018): Grappled with problems of the human environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA. 7844-7845. 2018
- Regional Climate Response Collaboratives Multi-Institutional Support for Climate Resilience. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 891-898. 2018
- Moving toward 1.5°C of warming: implications for climate adaptation strategies. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 146-152. 2018
- Knowing climate as a social-ecological-atmospheric construct. Global Environmental Change. 1-9. 2018
- Managing climate risks on the ranch with limited drought information. Climate Risk Management. 11-26. 2018
- Simulated climate adaptation in storm-water systems: Evaluating the efficiency of within-system flexibility. Climate Risk Management. 23-34. 2018
- Vulnerability of grazing and confined livestock in the Northern Great Plains to projected mid- and late-twenty-first century climate. Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 19-32. 2018
- Simulated climate adaptation in stormwater systems: evaluating the efficiency of adaptation strategies. Environment Systems and Decisions. 214-229. 2017
- AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS Mapping future crop geographies. Nature Climate Change. 544-545. 2016
- Mapping future crop geographies. Nature Climate Change. 544-545. 2016
- The dynamics of vulnerability: why adapting to climate variability will not always prepare us for climate change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: WIREs Climate Change. 413-425. 2015
- Climate variability and the sensitivity of downstream temperature to treated wastewater discharge: a simulation analysis. Environment Systems and Decisions. 11-21. 2015
- Weather and climate extremes: Pacemakers of adaptation?. Weather and Climate Extremes. 29-39. 2014
- What is climate risk management?. Climate Risk Management. 1-4. 2014
- Design of a severe climate change early warning system. Weather and Climate Extremes. 31-38. 2013
- The effect of rate of change, variability, and extreme events on the pace of adaptation to a changing climate. Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 209-222. 2013
- Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA. 7156-7161. 2012
- Going to extremes: propositions on the social response to severe climate change. Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 1-19. 2010
- Out of administrative control: Absentee owners, resident elk and the shifting nature of wildlife management in southwestern Montana. Geoforum. 816-830. 2006
- Ranchland ownership change in the greater yellowstone ecosystem, 1990-2001: Implications for conservation. Society and Natural Resources. 743-758. 2006
- Ranchland ownership dynamics in the Rocky Mountain west. Rangeland Ecology and Management. 191-198. 2005
- Ecological principles and guidelines for managing the use of land. Ecological Applications. 639-670. 2000
- Ending the Range Wars?. Environment: science and policy for sustainable development. 4-29. 1996
- Land Use and Landscape Change in the U.S. Rocky Mountains I: Theory, Scale and Pattern. Mountain Research and Development. 395-405. 1996
- RANCHING THE VIEW - SUBDIVISIONS VERSUS AGRICULTURE. Conservation Biology. 459-461. 1995
- MODELING LAND-USE AND COVER AS PART OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL-CHANGE. Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 45-64. 1994
- INTEGRATED MODELING OF LAND-USE AND COVER CHANGE. Bioscience. 350-356. 1994
- ANTHROPOGENIC CLIMATE CHANGE AND A NEW PARADIGM OF NATURAL RESOURCE PLANNING. Professional Geographer. 1-12. 1990
- THE IMPACT OF DECADAL FLUCTUATIONS IN MEAN PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE ON RUNOFF - A SENSITIVITY STUDY OVER THE UNITED-STATES. Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 423-447. 1989
- Reducing hazards during the 1990s. Natural Hazards. 387-389. 1989
- ADJUSTING WATER-RESOURCES MANAGEMENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE. Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 69-97. 1988
- THE SOCIAL BURDEN OF WEATHER AND CLIMATE HAZARDS. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 1378-1388. 1986
- THE DUST-BOWL, HISTORICAL IMAGE, PSYCHOLOGICAL ANCHOR, AND ECOLOGICAL TABOO. Great Plains Quarterly. 127-136. 1986
- CLIMATE HAZARDS - LESSONS FROM RECENT EVENTS IN THE UNITED-STATES. Disasters: the journal of disaster studies, policy and management. 295-300. 1985
- THE IDENTIFICATION OF 10-YEAR TO 20-YEAR TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION FLUCTUATIONS IN THE CONTIGUOUS UNITED-STATES. Journal of Climatology & Applied Meteorology. 950-966. 1984
- News Media Coverage of Seasonal Forecasts: The Case of Winter 1982–83. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 1351-1356. 1983
- Societal response to CO2-induced climate change: Opportunities for research. Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 387-428. 1981
- Societal response to CO2-induced climate change: Opportunities for research. Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 387-428. 1981
- Communicating environmental uncertainty: The nature of weather forecasts. Journal of Geography. 168-172. 1979
- Radar Inference of Lake Okeechobee Rainfall for Use in Environmental Studies. Weatherwise. 206-211. 1974

Teaching

courses taught

GEOG 1962 - Geographies of Global Change
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
Familiarizes students with a geographic understanding of conflicts around the globe and of economic, political and cultural globalization. Analyzes the relationship between global forces, regions and local interests in contemporary territorial and geopolitical tensions and conflicts, emphasizing issues such as nationalism, migration, labor and natural resources. Formerly GEOG 2002.
GEOG 3402 - Natural Hazards
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
Explores the impacts of extreme geophysical events on human society. Emphasizes adaptations to extreme events and ways of reducing vulnerability and damage.
GEOG 3412 - Conservation Practice and Resource Management
Primary Instructor - Fall 2022 / Fall 2024
Studies policy and management of natural resources. Emphasizes practical approaches to the conservation and management of soil, land, water and air resources.
GEOG 4501 - Water Issues in the American West
Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Water scarcity is a perpetual issue facing communities in the western Unites States. This course critically evaluates water use, emphasizing problems associated with geographic maldistribution, appropriations, irrigation, industry, pollution and regional development. Interprets and analyzes hydroclimatic data, surface and groundwater. Same as GEOG 5501.
GEOG 4990 - Senior Thesis
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022
Offers thesis research under faculty supervision. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Instructor consent required.
GEOG 5161 - Research Design in Geography
Primary Instructor - Spring 2019
The human section reads and discusses contemporary research philosophies and methodologies in human geography. Practices the development of research proposals and presentation of research ideas and results. The physical section reads and discusses contemporary research philosophies and methodologies in physical geography (climatology, geomorphology, biogeography, and soils geography). Practices the development of research proposals and presentation of research ideas.
GEOG 5501 - Water Issues in the American West
Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Water scarcity is a perpetual issue facing communities in the western Unites States. This course critically evaluates water use, emphasizing problems associated with geographic maldistribution, appropriations, irrigation, industry, pollution and regional development. Interprets and analyzes hydroclimatic data, surface and groundwater. Same as GEOG 4501.
GEOG 6950 - Master's Thesis
Primary Instructor - Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023
Instructor consent required.

VIVO

Travis, William Riebsame

Positions

Research Areas

Research

research overview

keywords

Publications

selected publications

book

chapter

journal article

Teaching

courses taught

Background

education and training

Other Profiles

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