NSF Engines Development Award: Building a climate-smart future in the Columbia River Basin (ID, OR, WA)

Regents Of The University Of Idaho, Moscow ID

Investigators

Abstract

This Regional Innovation Engines Development Award seeks to leverage the Columbia River Basin (CRB)region to develop sustainable, innovative, climate-smart products and practices, and a skilled workforce to fuel a resilient, equitable, economy to combat climate change. The project, named FIERCE, will lay the groundwork for this climate-smart ecosystem in the CRB states of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. Through a two-tiered system, FIERCE will develop the scaffolding for the following underlying program focus areas: Use-inspired Research and Development, Translation of Innovations to Practice, Workforce Development, Ecosystem Partnerships, and Indigenous Innovations. Use-inspired research projects within FIERCE will be used to develop solutions and tools for measuring and verifying their effectiveness to ensure they reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases. FIERCE will engage with all citizens to strengthen existing and create new distributed workforce development programs, especially in Indigenous communities who, as holders of large tracts of sovereign lands in the West, are essential partners to a climate-smart future beginning in the region. Finally, FIERCE will translate innovations to practice through strategic partnerships with regional economic development organizations, entrepreneurs, state agencies, and climate-smart incubators. Increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases from a fossil-fuel-based economy have caused a dangerous increase in global temperatures causing megafires and megadroughts that have impacted community infrastructure, food and fiber availability, water quality and quantity, and human health. Climate-smart solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon, and increase regional climate adaptation while maintaining or increasing economic output are required to solve these destructive problems. The FIERCE engine will research, develop, identify, and translate climate-smart solutions and products through a unique ecosystem of agricultural, forestry, energy, educational, and business development partners in the region. In the development phase, FIERCE will strengthen existing partnerships and build new relationships with direct funding sources that can infuse capital and invest long-term in the FIERCE Engine. Working groups for each of the FIERCE focal areas will convene to identify, synthesize, and prioritize regional projects and ideas for FIERCE to support in the growth phase. Outcomes of this work will generate publications and reports that will be used to guide further Engine development, strengthened partnerships committed to the climate change and societal goals underlying the FIERCE vision, and the foundation for a resilient ecosystem that fosters creativity, inclusion, and economically-viable solutions to climate change. This Development Award will enable the team to engage in a regional, collaborative planning process to prepare a future Engine to meet these goals. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.