Joanna Endter-Wada
Environment and Society
Professor, Natural Resource Policy and Social Science

Contact Information
Office Location: BNR 270A, USU Logan CampusPhone: 435-797-2487
Email: joanna.endter-wada@usu.edu
Additional Information:
Educational Background
Biography
Dr. Joanna Endter-Wada is a Professor of Natural Resource Policy and Social Science in the Department of Environment and Society. She is Director of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Graduate Certificate Program, and a faculty researcher with USU’s Center for Water Efficient Landscaping where she heads the WaterMAPS™ Program. Dr. Endter-Wada contributes to interdisciplinary academic programs and research projects and has served at state and federal levels in policy-related appointments.
Teaching Interests
Water Policy
Research Interests
urban water demand management, landscape water conservation, drought and climate change adaptations, water for wetlands, human dimensions of ecosystem science and management
Awards
Quinney College of Natural Resources Faculty University Service Award, 2021
Utah State University S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources
Award for Outstanding Service in the Academic Sector , 2018
Utah Section of the American Water Resources Association
AWRA Boggess Award for Best Paper of 2015 in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2016
American Water Resources Association
Award of Excellence for faculty team of the Center for Water Efficient Landscaping, 2014
Western Extension Directors Association
ESRI Award for Best Scientific Paper in Geographic Information Systems , 2012
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
Editors' Pick (for 2008 article "Situational Waste in Landscape Watering...." in Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2009
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
Certificate of Appreciation, 1997
Society of American Foresters
Utah Forest Stewardship Achievement Award, 1996
Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands
Publications | Abstracts
- Downard, R., Endter-Wada, J.L, Kettenring, K., (2009). Keeping wetlands wet: Wetland policies and politics in the Bear River Basin. Ecological Society of America Millennium Conference on water-ecosystem services, drought, and environmental justice *
- Downward, R., Endter-Wada, J.L, Kettenring, K., (2009). Keeping wetlands wet: Wetland policies and politics in the Bear River Basin. Ecological Society of America Millennium Conference on water-ecosystem services, drought, and environmental justice
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
- Endter-Wada, J.L, (2014). Clean Water Scarcity (1950s-present): CQ Press Guide to U.S. Environmental Policy.
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Ingram, H., (2012). Global Climate Change as Environmental Megacrisis: Mega-crises: Understanding the Prospects, Nature, Characteristics and the Effects of Cataclysmic Events. Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Ltd.
Publications | Book Chapters
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Fact Sheets
- Frank, M., Marty, J., Rohal, C., Downard, R., Endter-Wada, J.L, Kettenring, K., Larese-Casanova, M., (2016). Water Rights for Wetlands in the Bear River Delta. USU Extension
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Journal Articles
Academic Journal
- Blanchette, A., Trammel, T.L, Pataki, D.E, Endter-Wada, J.L, Avolio, M.L, (2021). Plant biodiversity in residential yards is influenced by people's preferences for variety but limited by their income. Landscape and Urban Planning, 214, 104149. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104149
- Carney, C.P, Endter-Wada, J.L, Welsh, L.W, (2021). Accumulating Interest in Water Banks: Assessing Their Role in Mitigating Water Insecurities in a Prior Appropriation State. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 57:4, 552-571. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12940
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Kettenring, K., Sutton-Grier, A., (2020). Protecting wetlands for people: Strategic policy action can help wetlands mitigate risks and enhance resilience. Environmental Science and Policy, 108, 37-44. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.01.016
- Barnett, M.J, Jackson-Smith, D., Endter-Wada, J.L, Haeffner, M., (2020). A Multilevel Analysis of the Drivers of Household Water Consumption in a Semi-Arid Region. Science of the Total Environment, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136489
- Li, E., Endter-Wada, J.L, Li, S., (2019). Dynamics of Utah’s agricultural landscapes in response to urbanization: A comparison between irrigated and non-irrigated agricultural lands. Applied Geography, 105, 58-72. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2019.02.006
- Barnett, M.J, Jackson-Smith, D., Endter-Wada, J.L, (2019). Implications of Nontraditional Housing Arrangements for Urban Water Management in the United States Intermountain West. Society & Natural Resources, 32:5, 508-529. doi: 10.1080/08941920.2018.1539200
- Hale, R., Flint, C., Jackson-Smith, D., Endter-Wada, J.L, (2018). Social Dimensions of Urban Flood Experience, Exposure, and Concern. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 54:5, 1137-1150. doi: 10.1111/1752-1688.12676
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Kettenring, K., Sutton-Grier, A.E, (2018). Sustaining wetlands to mitigate disasters and protect people. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 16:8, 431.
- Avolio, M.L, Pataki, D.E, Trammel, T.L, Endter-Wada, J.L, (2018). Biodiverse Cities: the Nursery Industry, Homeowners, and Neighborhood Differences Drive Urban Tree Composition. Ecological Monographs, 88:2, 259-276. doi: 10.1002/ecm.1290
- Welsh, L.W, Endter-Wada, J.L, (2017). Piping Water from Rural Counties to Fuel Metropolitan Growth in Las Vegas: Analysis of Controversies over Water Allocation and Transfers in the Arid U.S. West. Water Alternatives, 10:2, 420-436.
- Welsh, L.W, Endter-Wada, J.L, (2017). Policy Debates over the Southern Nevada Water Authority Groundwater Development Project: Beneficial Uses of Water in a Desert. Journal of the Southwest, 59:1-2, 302-337. doi: 10.1353/jsw.2017.0014
- Flint, C., Dai, X., Jackson-Smith, D., Endter-Wada, J.L, Yeo, S.K, Hale, R., Dolan, M.K, (2017). Social and geographic contexts of water concerns in Utah. Society and Natural Resources, 30:8, 885-902. doi: 10.1080/08941920.2016.1264653
- Jackson-Smith, D., Stoker, P.A, Buchert, M., Endter-Wada, J.L, Licon, C., Bell, L., Bjerregaard, Z., Cannon, M., Li, S., (2016). Differentiating urban forms: a neighborhood typology for understanding urban water systems. Cities and the Environment, 9:1, Article 5.
- Burnham, M., Zhao, M., Endter-Wada, J.L, Bardsley, T., (2016). Water Management Decision Making in the Face of Multiple Forms of Uncertainty and Risk. JAWRA - Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 52:6, 1366-1384. doi: 10.1111/1752-1688.12459
- Li, E., Li, S., Endter-Wada, J.L, (2016). Water-Smart Growth Planning: Linking Water and Land in the Arid Urbanizing American West. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management , 60:6, 1056-1072. doi: 10.1080/09640568.2016.1197106
- Li, E., Endter-Wada, J.L, Li, S., (2015). Characterizing and Contextualizing the Water Challenges of Megacities. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 51:3, 589-613. doi: DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.12310
- Hale, R.L, Armstrong, A., Baker, M.A, Bedingfield, S., Betts, D., Buahin, C., Buchert, M., Crowl, T.A, Dupont, R.R, Ehleringer, J., Endter-Wada, J.L, Flint, C., Grant, J., Hinners, S., Horsburgh, J.S, Jackson-Smith, D., Jones, A.S, Licon, C., Null, S., Odame, A., Pataki, D.E, Rosenberg, D.E, Runburg, M., Stoker, P., Strong, C., (2015). iSAW: Integrating Structure, Actors, and Water to Study Socio-Hydro-Ecological Systems. Earth's Future/AGU , doi: 10.1002/2014EF000295
- Glenn, D.T, Endter-Wada, J.L, Kjelgren, R.K, Neale, C.M, (2015). Tools for Evaluating and Monitoring Effectiveness of Urban Landscape Water Conservation Interventions and Programs. Landscape and Urban Planning, 139, 82-93. doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.03.002
- Downard, R., Endter-Wada, J.L, Kettenring, K., (2014). Adaptive wetland management in an uncertain and changing arid environment. Ecology and Society, 19, 23.
- Madsen, J., Radel, C.A, Endter-Wada, J.L, (2014). Justice and immigrant Latino recreation geography in Cache Valley, Utah. Journal of Leisure Research, 46:3, 291-312.
- Downard, R., Endter-Wada, J.L, (2013). Keeping Wetlands Wet in the Western United States: Adaptations to Drought in Agriculture-Dominated Human-Natural Systems. Journal of Environmental Management, 131, 394-406.
- Welsh, L., Endter-Wada, J.L, Downard, R., Kettenring, K., (2013). Developing adaptive capacity to droughts: the rationality of locality. Ecology and Society, 18:2, 7.
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Blahna, D.J, (2011). Linkages to Public Land Framework: toward embedding humans in ecosystem analyses by using “inside-out social assessment”. Ecological Applications, 21:8, 3254-3271. doi: doi: 10.1890/10-2392.1
- Farag, F., Neale, C.M, Kjelgren, R.K, Endter-Wada, J.L, (2011). Quantifying Urban Landscape Water Conservation Potential Using High Resolution Remote Sensing and GISconservation at the rural-urban interface using remote sensing and GIS. Photogrammeteric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 77, 1113-1122.
- Kilgren, D., Endter-Wada, J.L, Kjelgren, R., Johnson, P.G, (2010). Implementing Landscape Water Conservation in Public School Institutional Settings: A Case for Situational Problem Solving.. Journal of American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), 46:6, 1205-1220.
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Selfa, T., Welsh, L., (2009). Hydrologic Interdependencies and Human Cooperation: The Process of Adapting to Droughts.. Weather, Climate and Society, 1:1, 55-71.
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Kurtzman, J., Keenan, S.P, Kjelgren, R.K, Neale, C.M, (2008). Situational Waste in Landscape Watering: Residential and Business Water Use in an Urban Utah Community. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), 44:4, 902-920.
- Hooper, V.H, Endter-Wada, J.L, Johnson, C.W, (2008). Theory and Practice Related to Native Plants: A Case Study of Utah Landscape Professionals.. Landscape Journal, 27:1, 127-141. doi: doi: 10.3368/lj.27.1.127
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Keenan, S.P, (2005). Adaptations by Long-Term Commercial Fishing Families in the California Bight: Coping with Changing Coastal Ecological and Social Systems. Human Organizatsion, 64:3, 225-239.
Professional Journal
- Li, E., Endter-Wada, J.L, Li, S., (2015). Linkages between water challenges and land use planning in megacities. Water Resources Impact , 17:1, 9-12. *
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Ingram, H., (2009). Climate Change as Environmental Mega-Crisis: Domesticated Problems, Patchwork Solutions, Inadequate Incentives. Mega-crises in the 21st Century, Special Issue of National Safety and Security and Crisis Management
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | MultiMedia
Video
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Welsh, L.W, Downard, R., Kettenring, K., (2009). Paradoxes in adapting to droughts – The rationality of locality. Ecological Society of America Millennium Conference on water-ecosystem services, drought, and environmental justice
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Technical Reports
Research Reports
- Endter-Wada, J.L, (2021). Research Project Report: Eagle Mountain City WaterMAPS™ Analysis. *
- Endter-Wada, J.L, (2020). Research Project Report: Landscape Water Use Analytics for Institutional and Corporate Properties. *
- Endter-Wada, J.L, (2020). Research Project Report: Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities WaterMAPS™ Analysis-Phase I . *
- Rupp, L.A, Kopp, K., Endter-Wada, J.L, Sun, Y., Johnson, P.G, Schaible, C., (2019). Annual Report of the Center for Water Efficient Landscaping. *
- Endter-Wada, J.L, (2019). Utah State Capitol Grounds Landscape Water Use Assessment. *
- Rupp, L.A, Endter-Wada, J.L, Johnson, P.G, Kopp, K., Sun, Y., Wheaton, A., (2018). Annual Report of the Center for Water Efficient Landscaping. *
Other Reports
- Welsh, L.W, Endter-Wada, J.L, (2016). Cache Water District: Risks and Opportunities. Research and Policy Analysis Report on Formation of a Water Conservancy District in Cache County, Utah. . *
- Endter-Wada, J.L, Hall, A., Jackson-Smith, D., (2015). Utah's Water Future: Perspectives on Water Issues in Utah's Wasatch Range Metropolitan Area. *
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Other
Bulletins
- Endter-Wada, J.L, (2015). The Untapped Potential of Water Conservation. Utah Science *
Newspaper
- Endter-Wada, J.L, (2008). Letter to the Editor of the Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake Tribune
Miscellaneous Extension
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.