Communities around the world face a wide array of challenges from climate extremes and environmental stressors, including flooding, heat, pollution, loss of biodiversity and groundwater, for which wetlands offer natural solutions. Wetlands cover ~8% of the surface of the Earth and provide a vast array of functions and ecosystem services that support and sustain quality of life. Recognized as the kidneys of the planet, wetlands are historically overlooked because their functions often are not obvious until they stop working. Yet wetlands play a critical role in the hydrologic cycle. They often represent a majority of water storage capacity of watersheds where they regulate and mitigate flood risk and maintain water quality by removing nutrient and sediment loads. They sustain aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem function and biodiversity, providing unique habitats for aquatic and semi-aquatic species and habitat mosaics for species of economic and cultural importance (e.g. game animals, migratory birds, endangered species). Terrestrial wetlands contribute to global sustainability: vast stores of soil organic carbon (teal carbon) exist in unmapped and unprotected wetlands. As a result, wetlands are at the heart of nature-based solutions to mitigate diverse environmental challenges as they buffer against pulses of drought and deluge.

The first phase of this project emphasized a user-centered design approach, engaging over 160 stakeholders from diverse sectors, including tribal governments, managers across jurisdictional scales, policymakers, conservation organizations, and community leaders. Through extensive interviews and collaborative workshops, the team identified user needs, decision-making workflows, and key challenges in wetland management and planning. This process resulted in the Use-Inspired Synthesis Report, which outlined core use cases, priority themes, user personas, essential data requirements, and product design goals. We also conducted a comparative analysis of 26 existing wetland mapping tools, revealing significant gaps in current approaches, including static data, limited spatial resolution, and inadequate accessibility.

These findings guided our innovation process, leading to the development of an initial prototype web-based platform and supplementary data delivery methods, detailed in our Phase 2 proposal and pitch presentation, a key deliverable of Phase 1. By addressing these gaps, our platform, as it evolves in later phases, will represent a transformative advancement in water security and wetland conservation. A major outcome of Phase 1 was the creation and design of TealWaters, an initiative dedicated to developing the first local-to-national scale wetlands decision support tool in the United States, providing access to cutting-edge wetland science.

The broader impacts of TealWaters extend beyond technical advancements. By providing accessible, high-quality tools, the project supports proactive water management and policy development, particularly in light of evolving legal and environmental contexts. Additionally, TealWaters enhances public understanding of wetlands, enabling informed discussions and collaborative decision-making about water resources that include local communities. Our products allow  decision-maker, citizen, scientist, policy-makers to ask and answer questions, explore scenarios, and make informed decisions about water and wetlands.

Last Modified: 01/07/2025
Modified by: Meghan Halabisky