His teaching and scholarship focuses on human-environment interactions in working lands of the American West as well as protected area landscapes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Joel works in interdisciplinary teams that involve colleagues from a variety of fields and stakeholder groups – including non-profits, industry, and agencies. He directs the Communities and Forests in Oregon (CAFOR) project which examines the strategies people use to adapt to a changing climate and how they manage their forests to reduce wildfire risk. He also co-directs the Population, Environment, and Climate in the Albertine Rift (PECAR) project that examines the interactions between protected areas and neighboring communities.