Grant Award Year:
2014-2015
Principal Investigator:
Anita Milman
Environmental Conservation
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Research Description:
High intensity storms that deliver substantial amounts of precipitation for an extended period can lead to
overbank flooding that inundates and damages surrounding property, disrupting human and ecosystems.
Appropriate selection and implementation of flood management strategies can mitigate the negative impacts
of these extreme flood events. This proposed research investigates the decision-process by which flood
management strategies are adopted and implemented in western Massachusetts. We will identify the criteria
used in decision-making and the situational factors influencing those priorities. The result will be i) a detailed
catalog, geographically organized, of flood protection measures undertaken in the Connecticut and Deerfield
River Basins; ii) a multi-variable matrix of decision-criteria with priority rankings used in practice to
determine the selection of flood management strategies; iii) a relational framework indicating the
decision-criteria most associated with specific situational factors. Increased understanding of
decision-processes is needed for decision-support modeling efforts to identify the portfolio of strategies best
suited for a specific community; provides necessary information for the design of policy and outreach efforts
aiming to influence flood mitigation choice; and is useful for predicting what flood response strategies are
likely to be adopted.