Information about groundwater is essential for Kachemak Bay communities to manage the watershed for both people and salmon. Groundwater discharge provides important ecological services to salmon streams by moderating temperatures, maintaining stream flows, delivering nutrients, and creating overwintering habitat. To better understand the availability of groundwater and how human activities impact this resource, researchers at the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the University of South Florida built a predictive model that shows the depth and extent of aquifers and predicts groundwater discharge and recharge.
Below, Syverine Bentz discusses Kachemak Bay’s approach to research, using a 2017 project on groundwater as a case example to explore topics such as reciprocity in research, shifts in power dynamics, changing mindsets, and building trust.
This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.