Date of Award

1-1-2022

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School/Department

Department of Geography and Planning

Content Description

1 online resource (v, 43 pages) : illustrations (some color), color map

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Andrei Lapenas

Committee Members

Taralynn Reynolds

Keywords

Climate Change, Culvert, Daylighting, GIS, Infrastructure, Stream Restoration, Stream restoration, Water-supply, Urban hydrology, Climatic changes, City planning

Subject Categories

Environmental Sciences

Abstract

During the 1950’s and 1960’s Suffolk County, New York experienced rapid urbanization and development. To pave way for infrastructure, hydrological modifications were made to the land including the burial of naturally flowing streams. Daylighting streams is the nature-based process of bringing buried streams back to the surface. In turn, restoring ecosystem services, increasing local resilience to climate change impacts, and expanding biodiversity. Minimal research has been done using GIS technology alongside a set of criteria to select best fit streams for daylighting. This thesis aims to fill that gap by identifying best and second-best fit streams for daylighting in Suffolk County, using a set of criteria and hydrologic modeling. The criteria selected is that potentially buried streams must be connected to an already existing waterbody, range between 250 and 1,000 feet in length, increase local resilience in vulnerable areas in Suffolk County, and must be more than 50 percent in the parks and recreation land use type. The criterion for this project is based on previous case studies, published guidelines, and management strategies for daylighting projects. It was found that a total of 67 stream segments are best fit for daylighting and 28 stream segments are second best for daylighting, totaling 95 stream segments (75,627.8471 feet). This information provides Suffolk County with a starting point for which stream segments are best suited for daylighting.

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