Dr. Morris has over 20 years of experience in environmental planning and research. She helps empower communities to become more resilient in the face of climate change and systemic inequity, and she is committed to finding data-driven solutions that improve both community and environmental health. Amy specializes in working with diverse partners to build consensus and in facilitating and analyzing a wide range of community input from small focus groups to large surveys. 

Amy has deep expertise in using social science methods, systems thinking, and community engagement in developing strategic conservation plans. Amy has led twelve large-scale community-based planning efforts and many projects focused on using data-driven analysis to reduce the risks posed by climate change. She is a skilled meeting facilitator who designs engaging, interactive meetings that foster creative problem-solving and help ensure that everyone has a voice in decision-making and building consensus. Amy is a national expert in equity-driven community engagement and in bringing together concerns about socioeconomic and health inequity with conservation decision-making. 

Before working as a consultant, Amy was Associate Director of Planning at Trust for Public Land and a Senior Associate at Aspen Environmental Group.  At Trust for Public Land, she led community-based park, trail, and open space planning projects throughout the western United States and Texas. At Aspen Environmental Group, Amy led projects related to land conservation policy and siting for transportation infrastructure and utility-scale renewable energy projects.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

Master of Arts in Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Biology, magna cum laude, Columbia College, Columbia University

Reports

Sierra Cascade Land Trust Council Strategic Conservation Action Plan (2021)

Front Range Urban Forestry Expansion Strategy (2021)

Pasadena Healthy Parks Plan (2020)

The Economic, Health, and Social Benefits of Conservation (2018)

Lake Chelan Community Open Space Vision (2018)

Bernalillo County Greenprint (2017)

Taos Community Conservation Plan and Enchanted Circle Trails Plan (2017)

West Fork San Jacinto Watershed Greenprint (2016)

Bonner County Trails Plan and Greater Sandpoint Greenprint (2016)

Using Forest Carbon Offsets for State Revolving Fund Loan Repayment (2016)

Peer-Reviewed/Law Review Publications 

Rissman, Adena R., A. Kalinin, Patrice Kohl, Amy W. Morris, D. Parker, O. Selles. 2019. Private organizations, public data: Land trust choices about mapping. Land Use Policy (89).

Owley, Jessica and Amy Morris. 2019. The New Agriculture: From Food Farms to Solar Farms. Columbia Journal of Environmental Law 44(2). 

Rissman, Adena R., Jessica Owley, Andrew W. L'Roe, Amy W. Morris, Chloe B. Wardropper. 2017. Mapping the public interests in private land: how privacy concerns and capacity affect spatial data on private-land conservation. Ecology and Society 22(2): 24-37. 

Morris, Amy and Jessica Owley. Mitigating the Impacts of the Renewable Energy Gold Rush. 2014. Minnesota Journal of Law, Science, and Technology 15(1): 293-388. 

Morris, Amy W., Jessica Owley, and Emily Capello. 2014. Green Siting for Green Energy. Journal of Energy and Environmental Law 4 (17-29). 

Morris, Amy W. and Adena R. Rissman. 2010. Public Access to Information on Private Land Conservation: Tracking Conservation Easements. Wisconsin Law Review 9(6): 1237-1282.

Morris, Amy W. 2008. Easing Conservation? Conservation Easements, Public Accountability and Neoliberalism. Geoforum 39(3): 1215-1227.

Guthman, Julie, Amy W. Morris, and Patricia Allen. 2006. Squaring Food Security and Farm Security in Two Types of Alternative Food Institutions. Rural Sociology 71(4): 662-684.

Presentations

Morris, Amy W. 2022. Equity-Driven Workforce Development for Urban Forestry. Presentation to Urban Sustainability Directors Network. May 16.

Morris, Amy W., Bridget Fithian, and Erin Tarr. 2021. Catastrophic Fires and Collaborative Conservation in the Sierra Cascade. Land Trust Alliance Rally, October 5. 

Morris, Amy W. 2020. Using Data to Drive Investments in Healthy and Resilient Communities. Part of “Harnessing the Ecological Data Revolution.” Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America. August 4.

Morris, Amy W. 2019. Building Resilience through Access to Parks: Using equity-driven engagement and data-driven mapping for multi-benefit planning. Part of “Next Wave in Conservation: Community- and Design-based Approaches.” State of the San Francisco Estuary Conference. Oakland, CA. October 21. 

Morris, Amy W and Kristina Ortez de Jones. 2019. With the People: Building Equity and Community Resilience through Engaged Conservation and Placemaking. Land Trust Alliance Rally. Raleigh, NC. October 18. 

Morris, Amy W, Amanda Brown-Stevens, Colleen McHugh, and Katie Coyne. 2019. Collective Impact for Resilient Cities. National Planning Conference, San Francisco, CA. April 16. 

Morris, Amy W, Kristina Ortez de Jones, and Lori Robertson. 2018. For the People: Building Equity with Local Park Partners. Land Trust Alliance Rally. Pittsburgh, PA. October 13.

Morris, Amy W and Kristina Ortez de Jones. 2017. Engaging diverse rural communities in setting conservation priorities. Land Trust Alliance Rally, Denver, CO. October 27. 

Robertson, Breece, Jonathan Jarosz, Amy Morris, and Jes Skillman. 2017. Mapping conservation easements: advancing strategic conservation. Land Trust Alliance Rally, Denver, CO. October 28. 

Morris, Amy W. 2016. Public access to data on private land conservation: Big privacy concerns in the era of big data. North American Congress for Conservation Biology. July 2016. Madison, WI. 

Morris, Amy W. 2016. Property Rights, Ecosystem Services, and Land Conservation: Using Property Law to Conserve Private Protected Areas. IUCN World Conservation Congress. September 2016. Honolulu, HI.  

Morris, Amy W and Jessica Owley. 2013. Tradeoffs in Renewable Energy Siting. Laying the Foundation for a Sustainable Energy Future: Legal and Policy Challenges. J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Conference. George Washington University Law School. Washington DC. April 11. 

Morris, Amy W and Jessica Owley. 2013. Mitigating the Impacts of the Renewable Energy Gold Rush. Legal and Policy Pathways for Energy Innovation Conference. University of Minnesota Law School. Minneapolis. April 24. 

Morris, Amy Wilson. 2012 Renewable Energy Future and the California Desert: Discovering and Attempting to Protect Cultural Resources and Endangered Species. Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences Conference. Santa Clara University. June 23. 

Morris, Amy Wilson. 2012. Offsite Mitigation for Utility-Scale Solar Projects. Association of Environmental Professionals Conference. Sacramento, CA. May 8.