Funding Wizard

The project will involve the following objectives in effort gather needed information to better understand flowering rush invasion in a leading-edge population. This information is needed to prevent and remediate flowering rush infestations in Lake Umatilla and Lake Celilo, and to contribute to the growing body of knowledge for flowering rush treatment and prevention available to land and water managers: 1. Assist John Day and The Dalles Ranger staff in conducting comprehensive aquatic invasive species surveys, focusing on flowering rush, throughout Lake Umatilla and Lake Celilo. All locations that favor potential establishment (slow-moving, shallow water) will be documented, even if flowering rush is not currently present. Site conditions (native plant community, disturbance regimes, abiotic conditions, etc) will be described in detail to provide a baseline assessment should the area become colonized in the future. This will help to better understand establishment methods and dynamics.2. Treat flowering rush infestations where feasible based on water depth – this may include careful hand pulling in shallow water/on shorelines or covering small infestations/single plants with weighted weed mats specifically designed for flowering rush. Continued research on effective manual treatment strategies is needed; for example, plant phenological stage and treatment timing may influence treatment efficacy. Other treatment methods may be proposed by the awarded partner and investigated for efficacy.3. Provide treatment recommendations and control strategies for other aquatic invasive plants identified during the surveys. Currently, the focus is on flowering rush, but other aquatic plants may also be targeted for control. Other invasive aquatic plants in the region include Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) and curly-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) among others. Abundance of these other invasive species is not well understood near Corps-managed recreation areas in Lake Umatilla and Lake Celilo. This information, and proposed control strategies, would allow for greater preparedness in reducing nonnative species populations in the region.4. Document all existing infestation locations, potential future locations based on flow rate and model, and treatment methodologies employed through a final report and provide this to John Day/The Dalles Ranger staff and partners in the Flowering Rush Working Group.

Background: Understanding how Global Positioning System (GPS) signals are influenced by vegetation structure allows for the determination of how specific technologies might be affected in certain forested environments. The work we are seeking shall involve creating detailed vegetation structure models and assessment of GPS coverage to support assured position, navigation, timing (APNT) activities and tests in forested and mixed topographic relief areas. Brief Description of Anticipated Work: Provide detailed vegetation data analysis for assessment of loss and degraded GPS signals which could include canopy structure, speciation, and dimensionality. Applicant would create and supply these data prior to APNT field tests and would provide technical assistance in analyzing vegetation during tests. 2) Provide field base of operations for position, navigation, and timing experiments including outdoor space, laboratory space (computer, wet, dry), wooded and non-wooded terrain drives, and collaboration space. Facilities must have high speed internet and availability for web conferencing. Local geodetic control monuments to aid in measurements and terrain input for maneuvers are required. 3) Provide access to spatial data including current and detailed aerial imagery and other field systems (web based), to assist in identifying and “pre-delineate” areas that would not be suitable for navigation experiments. 4) Acquire and provide access to on-site real-time data for experiments including, continually operated reference sites/real-time kinematic (CORS/RTK) GPS and real-time meteorological data with known geodetic control. 5) Provide access to dormitory facilities for use in multiday experiments. 6) Provide vessel support and crew for testing sensors for aquatic navigation

Background: Aquatic nuisance species, including harmful algae, impact US waterways (including those maintained by USACE), infrastructure, and associated resources across the Nation; it’s estimated that Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) cause an estimated $1B per year in lost tourism revenue alone. In response, innovative, cost-effective, and scalable technologies for early detection, prevention, and management of aquatic nuisance species are required. HABs are increasing in frequency and duration, resulting in environmental, socio-economic, and human/wildlife health concerns. Prevention and management of HABs within the Ohio River is of interest, as is research that produces knowledge and scalable HAB prevention and management tools applicable to lentic and lotic systems across the Nation. Research to address the need to improve capabilities and technologies to anticipate and rapidly respond to/mitigate HAB events is needed. Scalable physical, chemical, and/or biological HAB technologies to manage HABs are particularly needed. This project will establish an interdisciplinary collaboration between USACE and a Southern Appalachian Mountains or a North Atlantic Coast CESU network member. This collaboration will leverage resources to identify research opportunities and pursue actions necessary for accelerating the delivery of scalable HAB management technologies. This collaboration will seek to build upon and expand (but in no way duplicate) current HAB research efforts ongoing in the Ohio River and North Atlantic regions, thus leading to expanded technology transfer opportunities. Special topics of interest for this funding opportunity announcement are described as part of the “brief description of anticipated work” section below. Investigators should have demonstrated experience pertaining to HABs and aquatic nuisance species control techniques. Brief Description of Anticipated Work: Required Work Objectives: This CESU project is intended to develop and demonstrate scalable solutions that will minimize the frequency and effects of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) to our Nation’s waterways. Special topics of interest for proposals include but are not limited to: (1) scalable technologies to manage, control, and/or mitigate HABs in lentic OR lotic freshwater systems; and (2) approaches for identification of priority areas for proactive HAB management within large‑scale lotic systems (e.g., cyanobacteria “seed beds” or HAB onset “hot spots” in mainstem, tributaries or backwaters) and effective treatments for identified priority areas. This CESU project will develop and demonstrate a process or technology for the reduction of HAB events and their effects through 1) decreased HAB size, duration and frequency, 2) decreased HAB biomass and toxicity, or 3) reduced HAB biomass and toxins during or after an event, through physical, chemical, AND/OR biological processes. Successful proposals will provide compelling information illustrating that the proposed technology would be feasible for deployment to manage HABs that occur at large scales within freshwater systems. Successful proposals will also (a) clearly identify question(s) the proposed project will seek to answer (i.e., project technical objectives); (b) clearly describe the tasks and data required to answer those question(s) (i.e., data quality objectives); c) specifically address the scalable potential of the management measures or technology being proposed; and (d) describe envisioned project deliverables by task and by year. Proposals that demonstrate intent to maximize use of existing federal and state HAB programs, activities, and data are encouraged. Successful proposals will identify quantitative and qualitative success criteria for each project task and objective; identification of go/no-go decision points at the end of each year is also encouraged.

Background:The United States Army Corps of Engineers operates and maintains more than 80 flood risk management (FRM) reservoirs within the Ohio River Basin. While the primary purpose of these projects is to prevent flood damages, in the course of normal operation these projects make regular releases that augment the flow of downstream rivers and provide ancillary benefits to adjacent communities and transient users. Because of this augmentation, at certain times the flows on the Ohio River are actually higher than would have occurred naturally. These higher flows possibly provide benefits in the form of reduced treatment costs for dischargers, more hours of hydropower generation, fewer navigation delays, a more reliable water supply and other benefits that are not currently understood or captured.This effort seeks to identify and, when practicable, monetize ancillary benefits resulting from augmented flows associated with releases from multi-purpose reservoir projects. Its focus will be on the impacts and benefits associated with projects operating within the borders of the Ohio River Basin on flows and benefits located along the mainstem of the Ohio River. However, the methodologies identified should be generally applicable to augmented flows from reservoirs across the United States.At a minimum, benefits to municipal wastewater treatment plants and to water supply will be examined. Additional consideration of benefits to other industrial dischargers, navigation, hydropower and recreation are a plus, as is some discussion and consideration of the overall impacts of climate change on the benefit potential in the future. Brief description of Anticipated Work:The proposed project will describe how much of an influence the reservoir releases are having on the flows in the mainstem Ohio River and whether those increased flows are providing an economic benefit. This effort will involve the gathering of existing flow information, data reconciliation (developing processes for the filling of data gaps) and comparing observed flows and natural flows for each Ohio River mainstem lock and dam over the period of 1990 to present. This comparison will include a reporting of commonly used flow statistics which will serve as the basis for the economic analysis. The economic analysis will determine whether or not the difference between observed and natural flows is significant enough to result in positive benefits to wastewater treatment plants, water supplies and other river users. The overall effort should result in the development of repeatable analytical processes that can be applied to other reservoir influenced riverine systems across the United States. The results of the study will be presented in the form of a final report and the development of manuscripts for peer review should also be considered as appropriate.

Background: Locally-available wood offers attractive environmental benefits when used in bank stabilization. However, engineers in much of the country are uneasy using wood in bank protection designs due to lack of standard design tools based on scientifically sound information. The Engineering With Nature program has funded the development of a software update in the USACE river analysis software HEC-RAS to facilitate design and analysis of large wood in rivers. This update will plug into existing work flows and utilize familiar software for bank stabilization design and will greatly facilitate the consideration of natural wood by many more river engineers. Major Tasks Are To: (1) Identify data gaps of using large wood design for rivers and provide potential methods for addressing gaps. The CESU non-federal partner will be tasked with reaching out to appropriate agency, university, and private experts. Part of this task will be to host a 1-day interagency meeting with invited experts. The venue itself will be provided by USACE or a partner agency free of charge. It is expected that information on state of the knowledge will be presented as launching points for discussion.(2) Using information gathered from Task 1, research how to calculate driving and resisting forces on large wood in rivers. Information on best materials and practices shall be reported as well as environmental variables that impact the use of large wood in rivers. A large part of this task will be to code stand alone software to be integrated into the USACE HEC-RAS software. Requirements of the software is that it must read from the 1D hydraulic model output files in order to compute driving forces, resisting forces, and factors of safety. The software application must provide simple visualizations in cross section and plan view. It must also read from tables of wood properties which will be provided by USACE. Data will flow one way, from HEC-RAS to the application. It is not required to write information back to RAS or include options within existing tools or displays. it is to be written using WinUI, utilizing Xamel islands in WinUI to use CSIchart. Close coordination with the USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center is required, and prior experience reading HEC-RAS output is strongly desired, so the final tool can be seamlessly incorporated into RAS. In addition, the successful Recipient is to document ways the tool could be enhanced in the future for use with RAS2D.a. Note: USACE will select the equations to be coded based on feedback at the interagency meeting described above and will provide worked-out spreadsheet examples. The Recipient is not responsible to make the selection.(3) Provide a literature review and short scoping document on ways to automate high-level geomorphic assessments sufficient for deriving channel velocity and bank height. Previous experience automatically computing geomorphic values over large regions is strongly desired.(4) (Option for outyears) Develop and maintain an online platform to facilitate landowners in applying new bank stabilization methods, locating headcut locations within large watersheds, and generating stream centerlines and other enhancements to enable cross section analysis. Public Benefit: HEC-RAS is the most commonly used river analysis and design software in the world—standalone software applications added to HEC-RAS find quick adoption and use by the Public. The wood calculator will allow engineers to compute force and moment balances and factors of safety. By facilitating these computations, engineers will be more able to determine when additional anchoring is needed or when such features should not be implemented at all due to excessive hydraulic forces. This will increase the reliability and robustness of large wood designs, which should both reduce project failures and make engineers more comfortable to include wood features in bank stabilization and other projects.

Background: Rare earth elements (REE) are critical components of many advanced technologies including magnets in hard drives and components of lasers. Of the 17 rare earth elements, 16 (cerium, dysprosium, erbium, europium, gadolinium, holmium, lanthanum, lutetium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium, scandium, terbium, thulium, ytterbium and yttrium) are designated critical minerals and are present in different combinations and concentrations depending on the primary (e.g. ores, red mud, geological deposits) and secondary (e-waste, coal ash and landfill leachate) sources of the critical minerals. Of these 16, all except for cerium and lanthanum, are in undersupply. Individual REE are used in different combinations to develop advanced technologies necessitating the isolation of elements from primary and secondary sources and the purification of defined REE mixtures or individual elements. However current approaches are energy and solvent intensive and do not easily separate the different REE from each other. Biotechnology applications such as bioleaching and biosorption are promising approaches for REE recovery but require further research and development to increase selectivity, efficiency, cost effectiveness and scalability. Brief Description of Anticipated Work: Required Work Objectives: This project will develop novel microbes with increased capability to dissolve and capture REE from solid sources such as crushed ore and e-waste. The project will also examine approaches to increase the selectivity and affinity of biomolecules for different REE. Additionally, the project will investigate different technologies/approaches that improve scalability of REE recovery processes (e.g. concentration and monitoring of REEs during processing). The ultimate goal of this effort is to develop methods that accelerate our ability to recover individual or discrete mixtures of REE from domestic primary and secondary sources. Objective 1: Increase the selectivity and affinity of biomolecules for different REE. Create semi-synthetic platforms for specific lanthanide-binding, with the reliance on modification of proteins and spores using designed chemical structures for chelation moieties. These platforms should improve the concentration of lanthanides by spores and proteins, while providing methods for tuning protein/spore affinity and selectivity. The specificities of both the semi-synthetic and protein-alone chelators should be further modified using computational models to design peptides and proteins with a variety of affinities and specificities for REE.Objective 2: Technologies/approaches that improve scalability of REE recovery processes. Surfaces of fluorescent proteins should be modified to create protein biosensors that can bind lanthanides with high affinity and selectivity, and also allow FRET detection both in vitro and in vivo of lanthanides (samarium, europium, terbium, and dysprosium). Such biosensors will serve as tools for monitoring the efficiencies of processing streams and of the efficacies of different technologies. The successful offeror work with ERDC researchers to examine novel approaches to condense process streams to increase efficiency of downstream processing events.Results from these objectives will be communicated to ERDC regularly in interim reports and transferred to the Public using conference presentations and the peer-reviewed literature. All methods and protocols will accompany the results and meet peer-review scrutiny for any interim reports. A successful application would likely include experience with genetic engineering of spores, molecular evolution and synthetic biology, and successful publication record of these methods. Public Benefit: Development of approaches to harvest critical minerals from domestic sources is essential to establishing secure domestic supply chains for REE. Furthermore, the environmentally friendly biotechnologies developed here will greatly lower adverse environmental and climate effects caused by existing REE mining approaches. Further, understanding how to selectively isolate REE from many sources will greatly increase our ability to isolate other critical minerals. This project will benefit the public by providing new approaches to harvest critical minerals, by educating the public about environmentally friendly approaches for mining/recycling, and by increasing availability of critical materials for development of advanced technology.

The US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, (USACE) intends to enter into a cooperative agreement with a non-federal, nonprofit entity for intern opportunities in the management and enhancement of natural resources and assistance in the water safety program at the Raystown Lake Project. The Corps anticipates an opportunity for two Conservation Interns. Activities include (1) activities in wildlife management, threatened and endangered species monitoring, fisheries management, wildlife habitat enhancement, forest management, and boundary inspection/maintenance; and (2) activities in water safety promotion, updating bulletin boards; maintaining life jacket loaner stations; organizing events; conducting interpretive programs and roving interpretation; writing news releases; possibly conducting media interviews (radio); promoting USACE safety campaigns; developing public service announcements and interacting with park visitors. This agreement is an opportunity to provide training and education opportunities for conservation interns (two-2) with fish and wildlife, forestry, or education studies backgrounds.

Brief Description of Anticipated Work: Required Work Objectives: This CESU project is intended to develop and demonstrate scalable solutions that will minimize the frequency and effects of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) to our Nation’s waterways. Special topics of interest for proposals include but are not limited to: (1) scalable technologies to manage, control, and/or mitigate active HABs in lentic OR lotic freshwater systems; and (2) approaches to identify priority areas for proactive HAB management within large‑scale lotic systems (e.g., cyanobacteria “seed beds” or HAB onset “hot spots” in mainstem, tributaries or backwaters) and effective treatments for identified priority areas. This CESU project will develop and demonstrate a process or technology for the reduction of HAB events and their effects through 1) decreased HAB size, duration and frequency, 2) decreased HAB biomass and toxicity, or 3) reduced HAB biomass and toxins during or after an event, through physical, chemical, AND/OR biological processes. Successful proposals will provide compelling information illustrating that the proposed technology would be feasible for deployment to manage HABs that occur at large scales within freshwater systems. Successful proposals will also (a) clearly identify question(s) the proposed project will seek to answer (i.e., project technical objectives); (b) clearly describe the tasks and data required to answer those question(s) (i.e., data quality objectives); c) specifically address the scalable potential of the management measures or technology being proposed; and (d) describe envisioned project deliverables by task and by year. Proposals that demonstrate intent to maximize use of existing federal and state HAB programs, activities, and data are encouraged. Successful proposals will identify quantitative and qualitative success criteria for each project task and objective; identification of go/no-go decision points at the end of each year is also encouraged.

Required Work Objectives: The following objectives are required for this CESU-funded project, which is to better understand the design and deployment of EWN solutions for western resilience. Year one (1) will establish the initial structure of the project and includes tasks that support the following objectives. If funded, year two (2) and year (3) would continue to expand major elements of the project and build a diverse portfolio of collaborative EWN projects and engagements. Objective 1: Development of decision-ready models that advance EWN and the deployment/use of natural infrastructure. This objective prioritizes and subsequently builds a suite of diverse, collaborative R&D projects that expands current research efforts within EWN portfolio. For example, projects pursued may be focused on advancing the development of models and decision analyses for assessing the costs and benefits associated with the deployment of natural infrastructure to balance water supplies and improve flood control. Research that focuses on increasing storage and flood protection in a) wetlands, swamps and associated riparia, b) overdrawn aquifers, and c) on farmlands and forests on public and private lands is also encouraged. The breadth of projects is strengthened by the caliber of multi-disciplinary researchers that integrate capabilities, resources, and expertise to target very deliberative endpoints that advance EWN research. During the first year, it is anticipated that researchers associated with USACE and the selected team will initiate 3-5 R&D EWN projects, which ultimately lead to expanded technology transfer opportunities. Objective 2: Identification and Proposed Use of EWN Techniques and Natural Infrastructure to Facilitate Improvements to Land Use and Water Management. Water is in high demand in the southwestern US. As such, it is imperative that new methods be identified to conserve, equitably distribute, and improve the quality of water. Innovative approaches to land use and associated practices in water management are important factors that should be considered in achieving these previously described outcomes. Research within this objective will explore use of innovative EWN approaches on a basin scale and identify opportunities for deploying natural infrastructure in a way that results in environmental and social benefits across a variety of land uses – central to these EWN approaches is the goal of improving water management/security (i.e., conservation, equitable distribution and water quality improvements). Moreover, research activities will focus on the identification and analysis of cost-effective natural infrastructure with assessments for how this infrastructure could be distributed to deliver value to historically under-represented communities. Finally, this objective seeks to establish research projects that integrate a diverse number of collaborators, in addition to the core participants (i.e., members of the successful team and USACE’s EWN researchers). It is expected that 2 to 3 projects would be identified and actively pursued in the first year. Objective 3: Launch and Operate EWN Communication Platform for Enhanced Public Communication. A successful communication platform will result in the timely delivery of informational products and/or engagements across the EWN network. This objective seeks to optimize and integrate the collaborators’ proven methods of delivering products and/or successful engagements that advance EWN strategic outcomes for the public benefit. Example products include, but are not limited to: workshops, symposia, news articles, videos, documentaries, graphics, reporting of case studies, technical notes, journal articles, etc. The selected team will work with EWN leadership and researchers to prepare most (if not all) of the referenced products. During the first year, it is expected that a minimum of 2 workshops/symposia, 1 video, 2 or 3 tech notes and 2 journal articles will be produced through a highly successful collaboration. The products derived from this collaboration are expected to generate EWN educational and public outreach opportunities. A successful application would likely include a team of investigators with knowledge in a broad array of disciplines including, but not limited to hydrology and hydraulics; multi-objective optimization; flood mitigation; water supply planning; reservoir operations; watershed, flood, and sediment transport modeling; decision support tools; forest fires, and forest management. Additionally, experience should include, but not be limited to the following: Engineering With Nature®; development, design, and implementation of nature-based strategies and best management practices; erosion and reservoir infilling, modeling of restoration projects; incorporating human-use benefits into infrastructure projects; quantifying benefits derived from restoration projects; and modeling of riverine and reservoir systems.

Background:There are hundreds of reservoirs and thousands of miles of navigation channels that provide invaluable flood control, commercial transport of materials, water supply, recreation, and stream flow regulation. This navigation and flood control infrastructure protects millions of Americans who work and live beside these control structures. This protection of life and property is threatened by large-scale wildfires across the western United States” (Haring, et al. 2021). In 2021, 58,968 wildfires impacted 7.1 million acres and burned nearly 6,000 structures nationwide, 60% (3,577) of which were residences (USGS website). Also, in January 2018, directly following the nearby Thomas Fire, a storm struck Montecito, California, resulting in several landslides that killed 23 people. Wildfires damage watersheds by denuding landscapes, reducing infiltration rates, and increasing runoff rates. “Immediately following a wildfire, [the ground is void of] vegetation, the organic soil horizons are reduced to ash, and the soil remaining is altered such that it repels [instead of absorbs] rainwater. These effects dramatically increase the potential for erosion, which destabilizes stream channels, and increases infilling of reservoirs thus reducing their capacity. Together these adverse ground conditions significantly increase runoff, discharge, sediment transport, and subsequently increase the risks of flash flooding and destructive debris flows, as described above.” (Haring, et al 2021). As the climate has changed, fire seasons around the world have grown longer. According to Wibbenmeyer and McDarris (2020), the period from 2000-2018 was the driest 19-year span that southwestern North America has experienced since the late 1500s, and the second driest since 800 CE. These trends will only increase the likelihood of more wildfires and subsequent increased risks to our nation’s environment and flood protection infrastructure. The primary technical objective of this project is to provide a sustainable, nature-based and cost effective soil treatment technology for improving the mechanical properties of wildfire-altered soils, to decrease erosion. The treatment of interest is Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP). Microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is a relatively new process that uses naturally occurring bacteria to bind soil particles together through calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation. MICP is a biologically driven precipitation technology that is sustainable, does not introduce contaminants into the soil, and is not a high-energy process. The MICP treatment is a relatively new technique used by geotechnical engineers for ground improvement (strength) of sandy soils, like those in the western regions of the US.In theory, this method would also lessen the drying effects of drought on soils. The treatment increases water content of the soil, which deters erosion, slows runoff, and flash flooding. Brief Description of Anticipated Work: Determine the efficacy of MICP to improve engineering properties of soils affected by wildfires through conventional laboratory soil testing and through field demonstrations. To accomplish this, the following is anticipated: Literature review on MICP and effect of wildfires on soils. This research, performed only by the ERDC, will provide the basis for identifying the best type of soils and soil conditions for MICP treatment as well as defining the effects of wildfire on soils. Information will be acquired through discussion with USACE Districts that commonly experience wildfires in their regional area of jurisdiction. The activities discussed below will be undertaken by the contractor, with guidance and consideration by ERDC Principal Investigator. Activity 1: Identify the source(s) for soil sampling and testing. The contractor will consider ERDC’s findings from the literature research and start communication with ERDC and USACE Districts in the arid southwestern States and determine which wildfire affected site(s) will be researched. Government offices such as the Sacramento District, and Albuquerque District where wildfire clean up and forest restoration activities are common are the likely regions for conducting this research. Research locations will be determined based upon quantity and availability of site data and government experience (NRCS, USGS, USACE) in the regions. Activity 2: Acquire soil samples/travel. This activity will involve Government and University personnel acquiring soil samples from wildfire-affected areas discovered in Activity 2. Soil samples will be shipped to ERDC and University soil laboratories. The volume collected will be approximately of nine 5-gallon buckets. Activity 3: Soil index properties testing and microscopic mineral identification. The soil collected will be tested for their index properties including: sieve analysis, specific gravity, organic content, triaxial and direct shear strength. The soil property testing requires standard equipment and must follow typical ASTM procedures. Activity 4: Optimize MICP treatment. The duration and frequency of treatment as well as the concentration of the bacteria and type of nutrients to grow the bacteria will be determined in the lab. This activity requires a bio-engineering specialist. Activity 5: Treat and test soil samples. Testing of treated soils will be performed by a civil engineering graduate student and supervised by a geotechnical faculty. Microscopic mineral identification will be performed by a junior ERDC engineer and supervised by the PI. Lab testing will include shear strength (direct and triaxial) infiltration properties, erodibility properties. The testing requires standard equipment and must follow ASTM procedures. Tests conducted in triplicates will ensure repeatability. Results and analyses will be documented in a data report or a technical paper. Activity 6: Field demonstration. Select one site of the sampled wildfire sites that is most suitable to demonstrate the treatment application and protocol through a number of field tests including infiltration, erodibility and plate load. ERDC and university team members will coordinate testing plans and on wildfire exposed and un-exposed (control) sections of the site. The duration of treatment and field testing will be determined after the above field tests have taken place. This activity involves travel to the site, application tools, media and bacteria strain. Field activities, test results, and analyses will be documented in a data report and/or a technical paper. Public Benefit: Engineering with Nature research program, is the intentional alignment of natural and engineering processes to efficiently and sustainably deliver economic, environmental, and social benefits that improve public’s quality of life through community collaboration. This project will investigate the implementation of a sustainable, economic and eco‐friendly treatment for mitigating post‐fire effects on the natural environment and communities downstream of wildfires. If successful, MICP treatment has potential to decrease the threat of flash flooding and debris flows that threaten communities and USACE flood protection projects downstream of wildfires. This project will involve a previous EWN research effort in the Santa Clara Pueblo in northern New Mexico. These are native American lands where engineering solutions to environmental problems should be consistent with the Native American culture.