Expanding Vermont’s Functioning Floodplain Initiative (FFI) to Advance the Science and Conservation of Healthy Stream, Riparian, Wetland, and Floodplain Ecosystems

Roy Schiff, SLR Consulting, Liz Doran, University of Vermont, Jody Stryker, Stone Environmental, Mike Kline (2026). Expanding Vermont’s Functioning Floodplain Initiative (FFI) to Advance the Science and Conservation of Healthy Stream, Riparian, Wetland, and Floodplain Ecosystems. Technical Report #119, Grand Isle, VT. Lake Champlain Basin Program.

This project expanded the Vermont Functioning Floodplain Initiative (FFI (https://dec.vermont.gov/rivers/ffi) to build out habitat quality components to allow for interactive
web planning for the prioritization and tracking of projects to restore instream and floodplain
habitat critical to maintaining the movement of organisms and biodiversity, especially in the
presence of a changing climate. Methods are described in the revised FFI User Manual (Schiff
et al., 2025) and are now available on the FFI web tool (https://ffi.stone-env.net/).