Acadia recognizes and thanks International Volunteer Richard Kunter. He hails from Switzerland and came to us with a PhD in Hydrology and an EMBA. He spent three months here in the park on flood risk assessment of the Cromwell Brook Watershed assisting Wild Acadia Project Coordinator, Brian Henkel.Richard was able to learn the approaches and methods of natural and cultural management practices within a national park. At the same time he shared with us a wealth of knowledge regarding watershed management and flood risk assessment and mitigation. He compared methods used in Switzerland to methods the park had been and could be using in the future.
Richard was here to help us understand the flood risk in the Cromwell Brook Watershed and how modifications to the upper part of this watershed through planned infrastructure such as a bridge installation could affect the downstream flood risk.
Ultimately, during the three short months Richard was here he realized that we had a need for more consistent reliable data to effectively estimate flood scenarios for Cromwell and Kebo Brook. Yet, even with this uncertainty, there were great observations and recommendations made. With few exceptions the flood risk in lower Cromwell Brook is very well contained and increasing the runoff capacity of the river section downstream could mitigate those few risks.
In addition, Richard made a number of recommendations on ways to build up our hydrological information for the Cromwell Brook Watershed, as well as outlined ways to work with stakeholders to determine the vulnerability of infrastructure and cultural and natural resources if there were significant flooding.
Although his time with us was much too short, we greatly appreciate Richard’s expertise, his enthusiasm for Acadia National Park, and for sharing swiss chocolate with us!