Within Cornell University‘s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, SPEAR⁴ is Keith Tidball‘s lab, which serves as a platform for conducting integrated research, extension, and outreach activities in the areas of (1) human dimensions of natural resources management and (2)  ecological dimensions of security, understood from across the national security to human security  spectrum, and through the lenses of social-ecological system resilience and conservation social sciences.

SPEAR⁴  is focused on natural resources management questions at the leading edge – “at the tip of the spear” – in places and time periods characterized by conflict, crisis, hazard, trauma, violence, disaster or war.  This work includes human-wildlife conflict, environmental security, hazard and disaster vulnerability assessment, resilience analysis, risk management and adaptation strategies within social-ecological systems, as well as  individual and cultural  systems analysis and program management within these contexts, to include veterans and military families.  Extension and outreach around these and related topics is a priority for SPEAR⁴.