Report of activities, methods, and results from: Assessing Nature Based Solutions to Mitigate Flood Impacts and Enhance Resilience Workshop

The goal of this project is to advance our understanding about the effectiveness of natural features and nature-based solutions (NBS) in mitigating the risk of compound flooding around Mobile Bay, AL. The effort focuses on coupling hydrologic models of Mobile Bay with the National Water Model and incorporating effects of flood mitigation strategies, particularly NBS, into the coupled models to inform coastal planning and decision-making. The project team is using a stakeholder-driven process to shape and inform the research and modeling. The project team and coastal stakeholders met in-person for the first time on April 17, 2023, to discuss project goals, stakeholder needs, and exchange knowledge. Stakeholders represented a broad range of entities from federal, state, and municipal organizations in addition to non-profit organizations. Members of the project team were in attendance including modelers, hydrologists, social scientists, and ecologists. Workshop attendees were provided with information on the project goals, objectives, methods, and potential outputs. They were also given opportunities to express their planning and management needs. Stakeholder input was requested for topics including storm events to use for model calibration, locations flooding occurs, locations flood mitigation projects will be or have been implemented, project design life, surge/rainfall combinations of interest, and how project outputs can be used. PowerPoint presentations from the project team, with time for participant questions and answers, were used to highlight background information, research methods, and modeling capabilities. Various interactive and collaborative exercises were also used to give the project team a better understanding of stakeholder needs and priorities. These include an icebreaker activity, digital and print mapping exercises, whole-group facilitated discussions, group polling, and opportunities to indicate needs or interests on charts/graphs. Stakeholder feedback will also inform the next steps for the project team. Workshop attendees expressed positive opinions of the workshop and indicated that they departed with an understanding of project goals, objectives, and light technical knowledge of the modeling process.