Playas are small wetlands, averaging 14 acres in area, which periodically fill with rainwater and evaporate, and are not connected to any other body of surface water. On the Texas High Plains, the roughly 17,000 existing playas are a source of recharge for the Ogallala aquifer and the greatest...

Irrigated agriculture on the Southern High Plains of Texas relies heavily on water extracted from the Ogallala Aquifer, which is functionally non-renewable. Concerns about depletion of the aquifer have led to the implementation of policies designed to slow water extraction and increase the...

Conversion of biomass to electricity is often not economically feasible as a result of large transportation costs and low output prices. We build a model of an adaptable biorefinery situated at an agri-processing facility that already has biomass on-site and consider the optimal scale of the...

This study evaluated the possibility of implementing a proposed cap and trade policy on water use in the Texas Southern High Plains. The results suggested that the decision of producers to enroll in a cap and trade policy introduced under a restricted 50/50 management plan, will be impacted by...

This paper uses experimental methods to examine how individuals react to a set of voluntary incentives related to the conservation of a resource. The goal was to determine whether conservation over a critical area, such as a deep portion of an aquifer, could be encouraged, and whether...

The forest products industry is an important component of local, state, regional, and national economies. Assessing the economic contributions of the forest products industry in the South, one of the leading timber producing region in the world, is crucial. Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN),...