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Sam Merrill

Associate Research Professor

Office

320 Wishcamper Center

Contact Information

Phone: (207) 228-8596

Director, New England Environmental Finance Center

 

Education: University of Maine, BA, 1991; University of Minnesota, MS, PhD, 2002

Research Interests: fiscal and policy connections between land conservation and development in New England; questions regarding what constitutes "strategic" land conservation or development decisions.

Dr. Merrill specifically aims to help land conservation be more cost effective and strategic from a planning perspective. He conducts this work through his role as Director of the New England Environmental Finance Center, housed at the Muskie School. His background is in applied conservation biology, wildlife management, and private land protection initiatives. In the last several years he has also developed an applied policy focus on local adaptation to global challenges of climate change - specifically in 1) land use permitting issues around installation of new renewable energy generation capacity and 2) fiscal preparations municipalities must undertake.