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Current Initiatives
Methods and TechniquesCollaborative Planning ToolkitThe Collaborative Planning Toolkit is intended to help Corps Districts and state and local government planners employ collaborative planning tools and techniques to solve water problems. The Toolkit will be a web-based guide with extensive hyperlinks to other resources. The benefits will include collection, synthesis, and distribution of existing publications on collaborative planning for use by a broad range of practitioners. Flood Risk ManagementThe Flood Risk Management initiative intends to develop an outline for a framework and methods to encourage public involvement in selecting the appropriate flood risk management plan. This effort is part of the Corps program called “Actions for Change,” which was adopted in the wake of the loss of life and property caused by Hurricane Katrina. Action 10 of Actions for Change seeks to "Establish Public Involvement Risk Reduction Strategies." Consequently, the Flood Risk Management initiative seeks to implement this directive, including the involvement of those publics who will bear the highest risk. Lessons-Learned FrameworkAlthough IWR has applied Shared Vision Planning in many case studies, and others have applied similar methodologies, there has been limited documentation to capture lessons learned. To facilitate more formal evaluation, IWR is developing a framework for documenting the lessons learned about how the collaborative nature of the modeling affected the overall results of the study. Initial applications are in the James River and Willamette River demonstrations, with additional applications planned for retrospective analysis and non-IWR-led cases. Performance Measures to Assess the Benefits of Collaborative ModelingThe use of collaborative modeling to support water resources planning has grown in use over the last couple decades since the Institute for Water Resources (IWR) pioneered the Shared Vision Planning approach in the 1980s. Unfortunately, to date, practitioners who use SVP or related collaborative modeling approaches have not explicitly evaluated the benefits of engaging stakeholders early in the analytic process in contrast with limiting interaction of stakeholders in the technical side of the planning process. In order to support continued use of collaborative modeling efforts and to determine the appropriateness of various tools in water resources planning, there is a need to assess the benefits of collaborative modeling. Proceedings from Computer-Aided Dispute Resolution Workshop 2009The proceedings will include: overview paper, panel discussion transcripts, case study papers and presentations, ideas from the "next steps" breakout groups, reaction papers from attendees and attendee bios. The format will be an electronic pdf. Outreach and Community BuildingRegulatory and Shared Vision PlanningA workshop was held in Aug 2007 to investigate how Shared Vision Planning (SVP) could be used within the Regulatory 404 process. A conclusion of the workshop was that SVP would have the greatest value to the Regulatory community if incorporated into the pre-application process or used for portions of the 404 / NEPA review. In addition to identifying the need for the workshop participants to follow a case study such as the Cache La Poudre, they also developed a list of ways to inform and educate the regulatory community about the SVP process. Web Sites and WikiThe purpose of this project is to redesign the current Shared Vision Planning web site and create a new CADRe web site. Both will be database driven and will target prospective and current users of Shared Vision Planning techniques. The new web sites will become management tools for the current project leaders, while at the same time archiving and presenting the information to the new or prospective user. Wiki features will be developed for these web sites so that the information shared is developed in a more collaborative manner by experts in Computer Assisted Dispute Resolution or stakeholders working on a basin-wide study. Case StudiesCache la Poudre Case StudyAs part of the Western States Watershed Study, the cities of Greeley and Fort Collins, Colorado, are working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to test the SVP process in the Corps regulatory program. Faced with increasing municipal water demands, Greeley and Fort Collins have proposed enlarging two reservoirs and applied to the Corps for a permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Working with the cities, the Corps is engaging stakeholders in the technical analysis of the issues surrounding the permit application. If all parties agree to go forward, a computer model of the system will be developed collaboratively to support the permit application and review.
Initially the SVP pilot will focus solely on flow restoration in the North Fork and reservoir sizing, as the cities hold that the enlarged reservoirs will both improve ecological conditions and increase water supply firm yield during droughts. California State Planning SupportIn 2006, the U.S. Army Engineer Institute for Water Resources agreed to provide technical assistance to the Department of Water Resources of the State of California on how to implement Shared Vision Planning (SVP) to support development of the next California Water Plan. IWR will support California's Department of Water Resources (CaDWR) by 1) leading a General Workshop on Shared Vision Planning to introduce the topics of Shared Vision Planning to an audience of policy makers, natural resource planners, scientists and engineers; 2) providing strategic assistance to CaDWR with implementing SVP to support development of the next California Water Plan; and 3) assisting CaDWR in conducting multiple Shared Vision Planning workshops in 2007-2008. Connecticut River Case StudyThe Corps and The Nature Conservancy have a national MOU to collaborate on projects related to the re-operation of dams to provide ecosystem benefits without sacrificing other existing benefits. The Connecticut Project is only one of several across the country under the Sustainable Rivers Initiative. Work started on the West and Ashuelot tributaries, but the scope has expanded to the whole basin. In 2004, The Nature Conservancy conducted a series of workshops to identify major stressors and prioritize actions that could improve ecosystem conditions. Current tasks are to determine the extent of flow regime changes TNC wants to request and the corresponding level of administrative hurdles that are required to make these changes. A small scale ( river) demonstration project is under development.
IWR has sub-contracted MIT's MUSIC scholars to review TNC's stakeholder engagement process and to recommend alternate plans that correspond to different levels of flow alteration. James River Case StudyWhereas other Shared Vision Planning (SVP) studies have typically addressed reservoir operation issues (e.g., Lake Ontario Study, Mississippi Headwaters, ACT-ACF, etc.), the Corps also needs to work with stakeholders as it performs its regulatory role under section 404 of the Clean Water Act and increase its support to states in performing their water management roles. Likewise the state of Virginia recognizes the critical roles of both public involvement and technical analysis in implementing the new state water supply planning regulations. Therefore, the state of Virginia, the Corps' Norfolk District and USEPA Region III are helping guide IWR's pilot SVP study for the James River to support the Corps/EPA 404 regulatory role and the state's water planning process. The effort will take 3-5 months and will involve workshops, model development, limited data gathering and initial decision-making trials. Willamette Collaborative ModelingThis project is designed to collaboratively develop a model that is broadly applicable to numerous management questions. With the river hydrology serving as the backbone, the model will assist in addressing questions such as: How will the region cope with future demands for water supply, economic growth or environmental protection? What influence do the reservoir operations have on water conditions in the river? Is there a need for a re-operations study of the Willamette River Projects or for feasibility studies for structural modifications to the dams?
The modeling effort will also support the collaborative development of an ecosystem marketplace (as funded by an EPA grant). The model development consists of a series of systems-dynamics-lumped parameter models that will serve to provide rapid feedback and scenario testing capabilities, as well as the ability to link disparate systems like hydrology, ecosystem services, recreation and economics. Reviewed 13 Feb 2009 |
