Our project

Our research is community-led and community-owned in order to ensure the project serves community needs and priorities. We will build capacity within the community so they may have ownership over environmental testing and cleanup processes, and truly develop a bottom-up and reciprocal approach in which our team of researchers supports community needs, rather than a top-down approach that is extractive, short term, and prioritizes academic needs over community ones. The first step of our project is to ensure that the products we create meet the needs of the communities they will serve. Initial surveys, interviews, and sharing of previously collected data will determine the extent and degree of contamination at the site as well as the research guidance and reports that will be most useful to community leaders. Monitoring of soil, water, and sediment contaminants (PAH, PCB, metals, dioxin/furans) will take place throughout the watershed and repeat during stormwater surges. Contaminants will then be mapped and high-risk areas identified using 3D models of the landscape developed using drone imagery and sampling results. These socio-environmental data will be linked to restoration and cleanup efforts taking place within the watershed both on federal and local levels, help to target future cleanup efforts and plan for climate change impacts, and, a key component of this research, data will be shared and developed in partnership with the community through workshops, interviews, databases, reports, and open-access peer-reviewed publications.

Our objectives

1. Build community capacity for data-collection, environmental assessment, visioning, and dissemination;

2. Use data-collection and predictive pollutant modeling to identify and prioritize cleanup and planning needs;

3. Develop replicable data collection, data storage, and dissemination methods to promote community data ownership and equip community members with the resources and techniques necessary to continue monitoring and implementing environmental improvements in the face of a changing climate.