SRS-RN Track 2: MACRO-SETS: Microplastics Across the Columbia River basin to the Ocean - Social-Ecological-Technological System

Microplastics are fragments of any type of plastic less than 5 millimeters in length. Environmental microplastic contamination is a significant problem, as microplastics have been found all over the world, from within deep sea creatures to protected wilderness areas at altitude. The plastic cycle at the watershed scale, from atmosphere to ocean, has significant data gaps.

Environmental microplastics take many pathways into the environment including roads, agriculture practices, stormwater run-off, and wastewater systems. Microfibers are the dominant microplastic found in all environments, and while some microfibers sources have been identified and characterized, information about other sources is needed. In addition, there is a disconnect between microfiber sources, public awareness, and existing policy and management strategies.

This planning grant project aims to scope out research on microfibers in the Columbia River Basin in order to understand deeply microplastic sources and their connectivity. The project also has the goal of creating a regional network of scientists, industry, agencies, and nonprofits engaged in understanding environmental microplastic contamination, as well as recommending policy, management, and technology solutions to reduce or eliminate microplastic contamination sources.

This planning grant has the objective of collecting preliminary physical and social data to inform a series of workshops to engage diverse stakeholders in developing a project scope for understanding microfibers in the Columbia River Basin. Both physical and survey data collection will be informed by a Key Informant Workshop, a webinar of Oregon-based stakeholders known to the project team.

This group will convene to provide input on sampling, survey content, and subsequent workshop design. A second Basin-Wide Workshop will gather a larger group of stakeholders from across the Columbia River Basin. The goals of this workshop are to provide participants with an overview of the state of the science on microplastics; to enlist their respective professions, disciplines, and regional and cultural perspectives in identifying future microfiber research priorities; and to identify practitioner-leaders for co-developing microfiber research with the project team.

These individuals will participate in a Network Advisory Team Workshop to synthesize lessons from the planning process and to finalize goals for a full-scale project.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.