Quantifying the Economic Benefits of Stream Restoration
Austin Byers
Stantec
Baltimore, MD
Liya Abera
Stantec
Raleigh NC
Authors: Austin Byers, CERP and Liya Abera EIT
Streams and their adjacent wetlands are highly valued ecosystems that are of significant importance for water quality, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services. In this presentation, we investigate the social, economic, and environmental benefits of stream restoration by performing a cost-benefit analysis of stream restoration in both the urban and rural context. To quantify the overall value of a given stream restoration project, a list of potential benefits were identified from previous stream restoration projects and studies for typical stream restoration actions, such as bank stabilization, floodplain reconnection, and infrastructure protection. Then, the identified benefits related to short- and long-term economic values were estimated and quantified. Although costs are often a primary decision factor in the selection of restoration actions, benefits are often underemphasized. This presentation will cover how you can incorporate restoration actions' short- and long-term benefits (value) to inform decision-making.
About Austin Byers
Austin is a Principal and Business Center Practice Lead in Environmental Services for the Mid-Atlantic and the Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Infrastructure Sector Lead for North America. With 17+ years of experience in ecological assessments, restoration/mitigation design, and permitting, he is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner and a lead expert in NbS designs at the nexus of the built and natural environment.
About Liya Abera
Liya Abera is a Water Resources EIT at Stantec. She received her PhD in civil engineering with an emphasis in water resources from the University of Mississippi. Her research and practice interests include applying sustainable practices to preserve nature and alleviate natural disasters such as flooding, and cost and benefit analysis. She is also interested in studying the long-term effects of climate change on the environment. During her assignment as an ORISE postdoctoral at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she gained practical experience in field assessment and leading research projects and studied the role of nature-based solutions (NbS) in addressing the freshwater biodiversity crisis. Her experience includes performing hydrologic analysis of urban stormwater management and conducting lifecycle cost and benefit analysis, which included developing tools for implementing standard engineering economics methods and life cycle cost analysis.