Public Outreach

We build our Emriver models to help people of all ages and backgrounds understand complex river behavior. Traditional lectures and static representations are often inadequate education methods because of oversimplifying the morphologic response of rivers to human practices such as channel straightening or bedload mining. Emriver models are powerful tools for conveying the complicated processes and responses of rivers. We often see people make great leaps in understanding by observing the models.

Emriver models can create dynamic conversations, encouraging community leaders to consider the value of rivers in the decisions they make. The models demonstrate river management practices that can be applied during construction or development projects, and during pre-disaster mitigation and post-disaster recovery.

Examples

• The Vermont Agencies of Natural Resources, in partnership with the Vermont Agency of Transportation, developed the Rivers and Roads Program using the Emriver Em2 stream table to explain how rivers work and how to design, construct, and maintain roads and bridges to create greater river stability and more flood-resilient transportation infrastructure. Watch the Video about the program

• The ‘River Road Show’ is an award-winning program of the Ottauquechee Natural Resources Conservation District (ONRCD)
• The UK’s Rivers Trust uses our Em2 to protect people from floods
• Project Eco ROVER: The Mobile Science Classroom 

• Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation Watershed Management Division gives a demonstration to the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission

• The Watershed Stewardship Center at West Creek Reservation, part of Cleveland Metroparks, uses an Em2 to teach the public about enhancing and protecting urban watersheds.
• The Mississippi Watershed Management Organization uses an Em2 to demonstrate how rivers work.
• Understanding Flooding (Connecticut River Conservancy)
• The Illinois Association for Floodplain and Stormwater Management uses an Em2 stream table to talk about flood risks with the public.
• River Link in Ashville, North Carolina
• Wild Trout Trust YouTube channel The Wild Trout Trust and the Severn Rivers Trust made a video series using the Emriver that “will look at specific scenarios and model their outcomes, which are often highly unexpected unless you have quite a lot of existing experience with geomorphology.” Each new video will be posted on the Wild Trout Trust blog. The series has covered:
  • Erosion and deposition
  • Unintended effects of dredging
  • Rebalancing bank erosion rates

Weirs and impacts on river life

See more Video examples!