For the past two decades I have been best known as a scientist for my studies of human behavioral and psychological aspects of rangeland and forest management. Since grad school I have studied the social acceptability of land management practices and the conditions those practices create. That led to a more recent research focus on factors that influence decisions to change one’s approach to land management, looking mainly at ranchers and “new rural” owners of forest and rangeland properties. Now I’m shifting my emphasis again. Over a career spent working alongside natural scientist colleagues, I’ve become convinced we must do a much better job of integrating the human and ecological dimensions of natural resources and conservation research. This isn’t a unique idea – in fact, references to coupled human-natural systems proliferate in the scientific literature like cheatgrass on a fire-scarred hillside – but I’m taking a slightly different approach than most: drawing upon a university education in ecology and my long experience as an interdisciplinary social scientist, my students and I have begun to simultaneously measure ecological and social variables in order to better understand how each system affects the other.