Joe Fargione
Science Director, North America, and Science Advisor, Office of Investments
AREA OF EXPERTISE
carbon, natural climate solutions, renewable energy, land use, ecosystem services, biodiversity cons
Biography
Joe Fargione is Science Director for The Nature Conservancy’s North America Region. Joe’s research reveals nature’s hidden benefits to people, including how nature can help mitigate climate change.
Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy, Joe received a bachelor’s degree from Hampshire College, a PhD in Ecology from the University of Minnesota, and held faculty positions at the University of New Mexico and Purdue University. Joe’s dozens of scientific publications have been cited over twenty-three thousand times and have led to congressional testimony and national media coverage, including by NBC Nightly News, Time Magazine, The New York Times, and The Onion, among others. Joe is a native of Minneapolis, MN where he resides with his wife and family.
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- In the News
- Publications
“Part of the Answer to Climate Change May Be America’s Trees and Dirt, Scientists Say”
New York Times
Millions More Americans Face Flood Risks Than Previously Thought
EOS Earth & Space Science News
Energy Markets: Studies Attack Conventional Wisdom on Natural Gas
E&E News
Study Warns of Energy Sprawl
New York Times
Studies Say Clearing Lands for Biofuel will Aid Warming
Washington Post
Visit Joe's Google Scholar Profile for a full list of publications.
Publications
2022
Hise, C, B Obermeyer, M Ahlering, J Wilkison, and J Fargione. 2022. Site wind right: identifying low-impact wind development areas in the Central United States. Land 11(4): 462.
Wu, GC, JS Baker, CM Wade, GC McCord, JE Fargione, and Petr Havlik. 2022. Contributions of healthier diets and agricultural productivity toward sustainability and climate goals in the United States. Sustainability Science https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01232-w
2021
Drever, RC, J Fargione, and 36 additional authors. 2021. Natural climate solutions for Canada. Science Advances 7:eabd6034.
Fargione J, DL Haase, OT Burney, OA Kildisheva, G Edge, SC Cook-Patton, T Chapman, A Rempel, MD Hurteau, KT Davis, S Dobrowski, S Enebak, R De La Torre, AAR Bhuta, F Cubbage, B Kittler, D Zhang, and RW Guldin. 2021. Challenges to the reforestation pipeline in the United States. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 4:8
Correa DF, HL Beyer, HP Possingham, JE Fargione, JD Hill, and PM Schenk. 2021. Microalgal biofuel production at national scales: Reducing conflicts with agricultural lands and biodiversity within countries. Energy 215(1): 19033
Tallis, H., Fargione, J., Game, E., McDonald, R., Baumgarten, L., Bhagabati, N., Cortez, R., Griscom, B., Higgins, J., Kennedy, C.M., Kiesecker, J., Kroeger, T., Leberer, T., McGowan, J., Mandle, L., Masuda, Y.J., Morrison, S.A., Palmer, S., Shirer, R., Shyamsundar, P., Wolff, N.H. and Possingham, H.P. (2021), Prioritizing actions: spatial action maps for conservation. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1505: 118-141.
Brendan QR, GM Domke, BF Walters, GM Lovett, JE Fargione, L Greenwood, K Serbesoff-King, JM Randall, F Songlin. 2021. Insect and Disease Disturbances Correlate With Reduced Carbon Sequestration in Forests of the Contiguous United States. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 4: 10.3389/ffgc.2021.716582
2020
Cook-Patton SC, T Gopalakrishna, A Daigneault, SM Leavitt, J Platt, SM Scull, O Amarjargal, PW Ellis, BW Griscom, JL McGuire, SM Yeo, JE Fargione. 2020. Lower cost and more feasible options to restore forest cover in the contiguous United States for climate mitigation. One Earth 3(6):739-752
Bossio DA, SC Cook-Patton, PW Ellis, J Fargione, J Sanderman, P Smith, S Wood, R J Zomer, M von Unger, IM Emmer, BW Griscom. 2020. The role of soil carbon in natural climate solutions. Nature Sustainability 3(5):391-398
Goldstein A, WR Turner, SA Spawn, KJ Anderson-Teixeira, S Cook-Patton, J Fargione, HK Gibbs, B Griscom, JH Hewson, JF Howard, JC Ledezma, S Page, L Pin Koh, J Rockström, J Sanderman, DG Hole. 2020. Protecting irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nature Climate Change 10:287–295.
Johnson KA, OEJ Wing, PD Bates, J Fargione, T Kroeger, WD Larson, CC Sampson, AM Smith. 2020. A benefit–cost analysis of floodplain land acquisition for US flood damage reduction. Nature Sustainability 3(1): 56-62.
2019
Bradford MA, CJ Carey, L Atwood, D Bossio, EP Fenichel, S Gennet, J Fargione, JRB Fisher, E Fuller, DA Kane, J Lehmann, EE Oldfield, EM Ordway, J Rudek, J Sanderman, SA Wood. 2019. Soil carbon science for policy and practice. Nature Sustainability 2(12):1070-1072.
Soterroni AC, FM Ramos, A Mosnier, J Fargione, PR Andrade, L Baumgarten, J Pirker, M Obersteiner, F Kraxner, G Camara, AXY Carvalho, and S Polasky. 2019. Expanding the Soy Moratorium to Brazil’s Cerrado. Science Advances 5:eaav7336.
Griscom BW, G Lomax, T Kroeger, JE Fargione, J Adams, L Almond, D Bossio, SC Cook-Patton, PW Ellis, CM Kennedy, and J Kiesecker. 2019. We need both natural and energy solutions to stabilize our climate. Global Change Biology 25:1889–1890.
Claire A Runge, John C Withey, David E Naugle, Joseph E Fargione, Kate J Helmstedt, Ashley E Larsen, Sebastian Martinuzzi, Jason D Tack. (2019). Single species conservation as an umbrella for management of landscape threats. PLoS One 14(1): e0209619
Claire A Runge, Andrew J Plantinga, Ashley E Larsen, David E Naugle, Kate J Helmstedt, Stephen Polasky, J Patrick Donnelly, Joseph T Smith, Tyler J Lark, Joshua J Lawler, Sebastian Martinuzzi, Joe Fargione. (2019). Unintended habitat loss on private land from grazing restrictions on public rangelands. Journal of Applied Ecology
2018
Heather M Tallis, Peter L Hawthorne, Stephen Polasky, Joseph Reid, Michael W Beck, Kate Brauman, Jeffrey M Bielicki, Seth Binder, Matthew G Burgess, Emily Cassidy, Adam Clark, Joseph Fargione, Edward T Game, James Gerber, Forest Isbell, Joseph Kiesecker, Robert McDonald, Marc Metian, Jennifer L Molnar, Nathan D Mueller, Christine O'Connell, Daniel Ovando, Max Troell, Timothy M Boucher, Brian McPeek. (2018). An attainable global vision for conservation and human well‐being. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 16(10): 563-570.
Joshua Lawler, Paul Beier, Brett Dickson, Joseph Fargione, John Novembre, David Theobald. (2018). A tribute to a true conservation innovator, Brad McRae, 1966–2017. Conservation Biology
Joseph E Fargione, Steven Bassett, Timothy Boucher, Scott D Bridgham, Richard T Conant, Susan C Cook-Patton, Peter W Ellis, Alessandra Falcucci, James W Fourqurean, Trisha Gopalakrishna, Huan Gu, Benjamin Henderson, Matthew D Hurteau, Kevin D Kroeger, Timm Kroeger, Tyler J Lark, Sara M Leavitt, Guy Lomax, Robert I McDonald, J Patrick Megonigal, Daniela A Miteva, Curtis J Richardson, Jonathan Sanderman, David Shoch, Seth A Spawn, Joseph W Veldman, Christopher A Williams, Peter B Woodbury, Chris Zganjar, Marci Baranski, Patricia Elias, Richard A Houghton, Emily Landis, Emily McGlynn, William H Schlesinger, Juha V Siikamaki, Ariana E Sutton-Grier, Bronson W Griscom. (2018). Natural climate solutions for the United States. Science Advances. 4(11): eaat1869.
Brett G Dickson, Christine M Albano, Ranjan Anantharaman, Paul Beier, Joe Fargione, Tabitha A Graves, Miranda E Gray, Kimberly R Hall, Josh J Lawler, Paul B Leonard, Caitlin E Littlefield, Meredith L McClure, John Novembre, Carrie A Schloss, Nathan H Schumaker, Viral B Shah, David M Theobald. (2018). Circuit‐theory applications to connectivity science and conservation. Conservation Biology.
Paul R Armsworth, Heather B Jackson, Seong-Hoon Cho, Melissa Clark, Joseph E Fargione, Gwenllian D Iacona, Taeyoung Kim, Eric R Larson, Thomas Minney, Nathan A Sutton. (2018). Is conservation right to go big? Protected area size and conservation return-on-investment. Biological Conservation. 225: 229-236.
Sally Entrekin, Anne Trainor, James Saiers, Lauren Patterson, Kelly Maloney, Joseph Fargione, Joseph Kiesecker, Sharon Baruch-Mordo, Katherine Konschnik, Hannah Wiseman, Jean-Philippe Nicot, Joseph N Ryan. (2018). Water stress from high-volume hydraulic fracturing potentially threatens aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem services in Arkansas, United States. Environmental Science & Technology. 52(4): 2349-2358.
2017
Armsworth, P.R., Jackson, H.B., Cho, S.-H., Clark, M., Fargione, J.E., Iacona, G.D., Kim, T., Larson, E.R., Minney, T. & Sutton, N.A. (2017). Factoring economic costs into conservation planning may not improve agreement over priorities for protection. Nature Communications, 8, 2253.
Fargione, J. (2017). An expanding footprint. Nature Energy, 2, 770.
Griscom, B.W., Adams, J., Ellis, P.W., Houghton, R.A., Lomax, G., Miteva, D.A., Schlesinger, W.H., Shoch, D., Siikamäki, J.V., Smith, P., Woodbury, P., Zganjar, C., Blackman, A., Campari, J., Conant, R.T., Delgado, C., Elias, P., Gopalakrishna, T., Hamsik, M.R., Herrero, M., Kiesecker, J., Landis, E., Laestadius, L., Leavitt, S.M., Minnemeyer, S., Polasky, S., Potapov, P., Putz, F.E., Sanderman, J., Silvius, M., Wollenberg, E. & Fargione, J. (2017). Natural climate solutions. PNAS, 201710465.
Kiesecker, J.M., Evans, J.S., Sochi, K., Fargione, J., Naugle, D. & Doherty, K. (2017). Win-win for wind and wildlife. In: Energy Sprawl Solutions: Balancing Global Development and Conservation (eds. Kiesecker, J.M. & Naugle, D.E.). Island Press, pp. 53–66.
Lennox, G.D., Fargione, J., Spector, S., Williams, G. & Armsworth, P.R. (2017). The value of flexibility in conservation financing. Conservation Biology, 31, 666–674.
Maloney, K.O., Baruch-Mordo, S., Patterson, L.A., Nicot, J.-P., Entrekin, S.A., Fargione, J.E., Kiesecker, J.M., Konschnik, K.E., Ryan, J.N., Trainor, A.M., Saiers, J.E. & Wiseman, H.J. (2017). Unconventional oil and gas spills: Materials, volumes, and risks to surface waters in four states of the U.S. Science of The Total Environment, 581–582, 369–377.
Odadi, W.O., Fargione, J. & Rubenstein, D.I. (2017). Vegetation, Wildlife, and Livestock Responses to Planned Grazing Management in an African Pastoral Landscape. Land Degrad. Develop.
Patterson, L.A., Konschnik, K.E., Wiseman, H., Fargione, J., Maloney, K.O., Kiesecker, J., Nicot, J.-P., Baruch-Mordo, S., Entrekin, S., Trainor, A. & Saiers, J.E. (2017). Unconventional Oil and Gas Spills: Risks, Mitigation Priorities, and State Reporting Requirements. Environ. Sci. Technol.
2016
Ahlering, M., Fargione, J. & Parton, W. (2016). Potential carbon dioxide emission reductions from avoided grassland conversion in the northern Great Plains. Ecosphere, 7, e01625.
Barnett, A., Fargione, J. & Smith, M.P. (2016). Mapping Trade-Offs in Ecosystem Services from Reforestation in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. BioScience, 66, 223–237.
Trainor, A.M., McDonald, R.I. & Fargione, J. (2016). Energy sprawl is the largest driver of land use change in United States. PLOS ONE, 11, e0162269.
2015
Creutzig, F., Ravindranath, N.H., Berndes, G., Bolwig, S., Bright, R., Cherubini, F., Chum, H., Corbera, E., Delucchi, M., Faaij, A., Fargione, J., Haberl, H., Heath, G., Lucon, O., Plevin, R., Popp, A., Robledo-Abad, C., Rose, S., Smith, P., Stromman, A., Suh, S. & Masera, O. (2015). Bioenergy and climate change mitigation: an assessment. GCB Bioenergy, 7, 916–944.
Jungers, J.M., Sheaffer, C.C., Fargione, J. & Lehman, C. (2015). Short-term harvesting of biomass from conservation grasslands maintains plant diversity. GCB Bioenergy, 7, 1050–1061.
2013
Banerjee, S., Secchi, S., Fargione, J., Polasky, S. & Kraft, S. (2013). How to sell ecosystem services: a guide for designing new markets. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 11, 297–304.
Craine, J.M., Ocheltree, T.W., Nippert, J.B., Towne, E.G., Skibbe, A.M., Kembel, S.W. & Fargione, J.E. (2013). Global diversity of drought tolerance and grassland climate-change resilience. Nature Clim. Change, 3, 63–67.
Jungers, J.M., Fargione, J.E., Sheaffer, C.C., Wyse, D.L. & Lehman, C. (2013). Energy potential of biomass from conservation grasslands in Minnesota, USA. PLoS ONE, 8, e61209.
Rowe, H.I., Fargione, J. & Holland, J.D. (2013). Prairie restorations can protect remnant tallgrass prairie plant communities. The American Midland Naturalist, 170, 26–38.
2012
Fargione, J., Kiesecker, J., Slaats, M.J. & Olimb, S. (2012). Wind and wildlife in the Northern Great Plains: identifying low-impact areas for wind development. PLoS ONE, 7, e41468.
Gough, L., Gross, K.L., Cleland, E.E., Clark, C.M., Collins, S.L., Fargione, J.E., Pennings, S.C. & Suding, K.N. (2012). Incorporating clonal growth form clarifies the role of plant height in response to nitrogen addition. Oecologia, 169, 1053–1062.
McDonald, R.I., Olden, J.D., Opperman, J.J., Miller, W.M., Fargione, J., Revenga, C., Higgins, J.V. & Powell, J. (2012). Energy, water and fish: biodiversity impacts of energy-sector water demand in the United States depend on efficiency and policy measures. PLoS ONE, 7, e50219.
2011
Cleland, E.E., Clark, C.M., Collins, S.L., Fargione, J.E., Gough, L., Gross, K.L., Pennings, S.C. & Suding, K.N. (2011). Patterns of trait convergence and divergence among native and exotic species in herbaceous plant communities are not modified by nitrogen enrichment. Journal of Ecology, 99, 1327–1338.
Fargione, J.E., Lehman, C. & Polasky, S. (2011). Entrepreneurs, chance, and the deterministic concentration of wealth. PLoS ONE, 6, e20728.
Kiesecker, J.M., Evans, J.S., Fargione, J., Doherty, K., Foresman, K.R., Kunz, T.H., Naugle, D., Nibbelink, N.P. & Niemuth, N.D. (2011). Win-win for wind and wildlife: a vision to facilitate sustainable development. PLoS ONE, 6, e17566.
Obermeyer, B., Manes, R., Kiesecker, J., Fargione, J. & Sochi, K. (2011). Development by Design: mitigating wind development’s impacts on wildlife in Kansas. PLoS ONE, 6, e26698.
Swaty, R., Blankenship, K., Hagen, S., Fargione, J., Smith, J. & Patton, J. (2011). Accounting for ecosystem alteration doubles estimates of conservation risk in the conterminous United States. PLoS ONE, 6, e23002.
Wiens, J., Fargione, J. & Hill, J. (2011). Biofuels and biodiversity. Ecological Applications, 21, 1085–1095.
2010
Collins, S.L., Fargione, J.E., Crenshaw, C.L., Nonaka, E., Elliott, J.R., Xia, Y. & Pockman, W.T. (2010). Rapid plant community responses during the summer monsoon to nighttime warming in a northern Chihuahuan Desert grassland. Journal of Arid Environments, Land Surface Ecohydrology of the North American Monsoon System Ecohydrology of NAM - Special Issue, 74, 611–617.
Fargione, J.E., Plevin, R.J. & Hill, J.D. (2010). The ecological impact of biofuels. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 41, 351–377.
2009
Fargione, J.E., Cooper, T.R., Flaspohler, D.J., Hill, J., Lehman, C., McCoy, T., McLeod, S., Nelson, E.J., Oberhauser, K.S. & Tilman, D. (2009). Bioenergy and wildlife: threats and opportunities for grassland conservation. BioScience, 59, 767–777.
McDonald, R.I., Fargione, J., Kiesecker, J., Miller, W.M. & Powell, J. (2009). Energy sprawl or energy efficiency: climate policy impacts on natural habitat for the United States of America. PLoS ONE, 4, e6802.
Opperman, J.J., Galloway, G.E., Fargione, J., Mount, J.F., Richter, B.D. & Secchi, S. (2009). Sustainable floodplains through large-scale reconnection to rivers. Science, 326, 1487–1488.
Ravindranath, N.H., Mauvie, R., Fargione, J., Canadell, J.G., Berndes, G., Woods, J., Watson, H. & Sathaye, J. (2009). Green house gas implications of land use and land conversion to biofuel crops. In: Biofuels: environmental consequences and interactions with changing land use, Proceedings of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) International Biofuels Project Rapid Assessment (eds. Howarth, R.W. & Bringezu, S.). SCOPE, pp. 111–125.
2008
Cleland, E.E., Clark, C.M., Collins, S.L., Fargione, J.E., Gough, L., Gross, K.L., Milchunas, D.G., Pennings, S.C., Bowman, W.D., Burke, I.C., Lauenroth, W.K., Robertson, G.P., Simpson, J.C., Tilman, D. & Suding, K.N. (2008). Species responses to nitrogen fertilization in herbaceous plant communities, and associated species traits. Ecology, 89, 1175–1175.
Collins, S.L., Suding, K.N., Cleland, E.E., Batty, M., Pennings, S.C., Gross, K.L., Grace, J.B., Gough, L., Fargione, J.E. & Clark, C.M. (2008). Rank clocks and plant community dynamics. Ecology, 89, 3534–3541.
Dybzinski, R., Fargione, J.E., Zak, D.R., Fornara, D. & Tilman, D. (2008). Soil fertility increases with plant species diversity in a long-term biodiversity experiment. Oecologia, 158, 85–93.
Fargione, J., Hill, J., Tilman, D., Polasky, S. & Hawthorne, P. (2008). Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt. Science, 319, 1235–1238.
2007
Báez, S., Fargione, J., Moore, D.I., Collins, S.L. & Gosz, J.R. (2007). Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the northern Chihuahuan desert: temporal trends and potential consequences. Journal of Arid Environments, 68, 640–651.
Clark, C.M., Cleland, E.E., Collins, S.L., Fargione, J.E., Gough, L., Gross, K.L., Pennings, S.C., Suding, K.N. & Grace, J.B. (2007). Environmental and plant community determinants of species loss following nitrogen enrichment. Ecology Letters, 10, 596–607.
Fargione, J., Tilman, D., Dybzinski, R., Lambers, J.H.R., Clark, C., Harpole, W.S., Knops, J.M.H., Reich, P.B. & Loreau, M. (2007). From selection to complementarity: shifts in the causes of biodiversity–productivity relationships in a long-term biodiversity experiment. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 274, 871–876.
2006
Díaz, S., Fargione, J., Chapin, F.S., III & Tilman, D. (2006). Biodiversity loss threatens human well-being. PLoS Biol, 4, e277.
Fargione, J. & Tilman, D. (2006). Plant species traits and capacity for resource reduction predict yield and abundance under competition in nitrogen-limited grassland. Functional Ecology, 20, 533–540.
2005
Craine, J.M., Fargione, J. & Sugita, S. (2005). Supply pre-emption, not concentration reduction, is the mechanism of competition for nutrients. New Phytologist, 166, 933–940.
Díaz, S., Tilman, D., Fargione, J., Chapin, F.S., Dirzo, R., Kitzberger, T., Gemmill, B., Zobel, M., Vilá, M., Mitchell, C., Wilby, A., Daily, G.C., Galetti, M., Laurance, W.F., Pretty, J., Naylor, R.L., Power, A. & Harvell, D. (2005). Biodiversity regulation of ecosystem services. In: Ecosystems and human well-being: current state and trends. Island Press, Washington, D.C., pp. 297–329.
Fargione, J.E. & Tilman, D. (2005). Diversity decreases invasion via both sampling and complementarity effects. Ecology Letters, 8, 604–611.
Fargione, J. & Tilman, D. (2005). Niche differences in phenology and rooting depth promote coexistence with a dominant C4 bunchgrass. Oecologia, 143, 598–606.
2004
Neuhauser, C. & Fargione, J.E. (2004). A mutualism–parasitism continuum model and its application to plant–mycorrhizae interactions. Ecological Modelling, 177, 337–352.
Tilman, D., HilleRisLambers, J., Harpole, S., Dybzinski, R., Fargione, J., Clark, C. & Lehman, C. (2004). Does metabolic theory apply to community ecology? It’s a matter of scale. Ecology, 85, 1797–1799.
2003
Craine, J.M., Reich, P.B., Tilman, D., Ellsworth, D., Fargione, J., Knops, J. & Naeem, S. (2003). The role of plant species in biomass production and response to elevated CO2 and N. Ecology Letters, 6, 623–625.
Fargione, J., Brown, C.S. & Tilman, D. (2003). Community assembly and invasion: An experimental test of neutral versus niche processes. PNAS, 100, 8916–8920. (Highlighted on Minnesota Public Radio and in BioScience)
2002
Fargione, J. & Tilman, D. (2002). Competition and coexistence in terrestrial plants. In: Competition and coexistence, Ecological Studies. Springer, Berlin, pp. 165–206.
2001
Tilman, D., Fargione, J., Wolff, B., D’Antonio, C., Dobson, A., Howarth, R., Schindler, D., Schlesinger, W.H., Simberloff, D. & Swackhamer, D. (2001). Forecasting agriculturally driven global environmental change. Science, 292, 281–284. (Highlighted in Trends in Ecology & Evolution)