CAREER: Modeling Watershed Flooding and Adaptive Flood Management: An Integrative Plan for Research, Teaching, and Learning

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

As population growth and urban development continue to expand in the coastal margin, flooding poses a major threat to human safety and the integrity of the natural environment. To mitigate the adverse impacts of coastal flooding, decision makers are increasingly advocating watershed or ecosystem approaches to management. While it is argued that some of the most serious flood hazards are the result of a failure to understand the regional ecological context, little empirical research has been done on how growth and development patterns increase the threat of floods at the watershed level and how communities respond over time to repetitive flooding events. My career plan will address this need by implementing an interactive research and educational program on flood mitigation, sustainable watershed management, and policy learning. It will develop a framework for adaptive decision making for coastal flood hazards by integrating research, education, and information dissemination. The research component will focus on the impacts of wetland development on coastal watershed flooding and policy learning at the community level to mitigate the adverse impacts of flood damage to the human and natural environment. A two-phase longitudinal research design will employ both quantitative and qualitative analyses to investigate flooding problems in Texas and Florida. Phase one will use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to examine the spatial pattern of wetland development over a ten-year period and correlate this development with coastal watershed flooding. Phase two will identify thresholds of policy learning by examining how communities adjust and adapt to repetitive flooding. Both research phases will use multivariate analysis to measure the effects of wetland development on flooding and the effects of flooding on policy adjustment while controlling for socioeconomic, biophysical, and other contextual factors. The education component of the career plan will develop place-based learning modules on coastal watershed management and flood mitigation. A series of interdisciplinary, problem-based seminars will provide an authentic learning experience to prepare future scientists, teachers, and policy makers to address ecosystem-level hazards issues. Intellectual Merit of Proposed Plan The intellectual merit of the research is based on advancing knowledge of the causes of coastal watershed flooding and showing how to adapt policy mechanisms to mitigate floods. Results will contribute to a decision-making framework for flood mitigation by increasing understanding of the specific type, size, and location of wetlands that mitigate flooding and provide guidance to watershed planners for managing adaptively over time. This understanding is critical given the continued development of coastal areas and the increasing vulnerability of human populations to coastal flooding. One of the unique features of the proposed research will be the utilization of data sources that have been underutilized in the analysis of wetland loss. The national wetland permit and USGS flood gauge databases offer important opportunities to conduct an empirical study on watershed flooding. Broader Impacts of Proposed Plan While the project will contribute to scientific understanding and management capabilities, it will also promote teaching and learning on system-wide ecological problems. By building on participation in the University.s NSF sponsored Informational Technology and Science Program and Sustainable Coastal Margins Program, the project will integrate research on watershed management and flood mitigation with education and training to solve these issues. Interdisciplinary, place-based learning modules will train students and teachers to understand and act upon complex ecosystem management problems through problem solving, field experience, and the development of watershed case studies and associated websites. Courses during the academic year will target graduate students, while summer sessions will also include K-12 teachers. Another positive impact of the project will be recruitment and training of students from underrepresented groups. These individuals will play a vital role in both the research and educational components of the project. Finally, the dissemination of results will benefit the academic and policy making community. In addition to presenting research results at conferences and workshops, the information will be shared with public decision makers.