Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela won a 2023 Seed Grant to study how economic development and biodiversity conservation can co-exist in Colombia. This past academic year, she used her funding to design and conduct initial surveys as part of an effort to quantify the economic benefits of birdwatching. She brought a UCSC undergraduate with her to Colombia to help collect the initial data, which has since informed a keynote talk at the South American BirdFair, a TEDx talk, an NSF proposal, and a draft scientific paper.