RiverSmart and Federal Collaborators Project Summary

In this project we are looking at the role of federal agencies in flood prevention and remediation in New England. We're especially interested in flood hazard prevention/mitigation work that is designed to work with natural fluvial-geomorphological processes, and in examples of successful partnerships and support between federal agencies and state, local and nonprofit agencies.

Our goal is to be able to put together narratives about successful federal collaborations, that both tell stories and also offer analyses about what works, what the positive outcomes are, and why/how.

We will obtain information from municipalities in the Deerfield river watershed regarding their experience with recent floods. Next, we will bring our revised findings, informed by local residents and officials around the watershed across the two states, back to federal and perhaps state and regional agency staff and legislative staff and get their take on what's possible/realistic, and what would be possible/realistic with some changed legislation or regulatory authority.

Finally we'll bundle all of that into a set of recommendations in the form of a white paper and a presentation roadshow to get this out to a range of people and offices.