Paper on the benefits of coordinated river infrastructure decisions published in Environmental Research Letters

Sam Roy, research assistant professor with the Mitchell Center and the School of Earth and Climate Sciences at UMaine, is lead author on a new paper in the journal Environmental Research Letters. The paper, “Coordinated river infrastructure decisions improve net social-ecological benefits,” is co-authored by Mitchell Center researchers Adam Daigneault, Joseph Zydlewski, Sean Smith, and Shaleen Jain, Mitchell Center Director David Hart, and Allison Truhlar of Cornell University.

Sam is team leader on a project funded by the Maine Water Resources Research Institute, housed at the Mitchell Center. In this project, Upgrading Culverts for Safer Roads and Healthier Ecosystems, researchers worked with partners including state agencies, The Nature Conservancy, and the Maine Municipal Association “to develop decision-making tools for culvert replacement that produce the greatest benefits to infrastructure and ecosystems at the least cost. By examining connections among road safety, ecosystem health, and climate resilience, this project is demonstrating how innovative collaborations among government agencies, non-governmental organizations and our interdisciplinary research teams can enhance data-driven decision-making.”

A feature story on the research Sam and his team are engaged in appeared in Issue 6 of the Mitchell Center’s Solutions newsletter.