Dr. Courtney Flint

Dr. Courtney Flint

My work focuses on people’s perspectives and community actions in changing landscapes and social and natural resource conditions. Current research and engagement efforts focus on community wellbeing and water related actions in the Intermountain West. I’m interested in providing sound data to support local and regional decisions on land use, natural resource management, and wellbeing.

My team and I are excited to be part of two large NSF-funded projects – the Transformation Network (NSF-SRS) focused on sustainability, watersheds and wellbeing in the Intermountain West and I-GUIDE focused on geospatial and cyberinfrastructure for science on hydroclimatic extremes and water infrastructure, particularly regarding vulnerabilities related to high-risk dams and local water management organizations in Utah and the Great Salt Lake Basin. Both of these projects advance convergence research agendas - drawing from varied knowledges to address real world problems. These project have also supported our work on river and watershed organizations in the Intermountain West.

I also direct the Utah Wellbeing Project and we have partnered with over 60 cities in Utah since 2019 to survey residents on their wellbeing and other local perspectives and concerns. We have collected over 40,000 surveys from Utahns in rural and urban communities. These surveys inform local planning processes and statewide efforts to improve the lives of Utahns.

Associate Director, Utah Water Research Lab  
Professor, Environment & Society  
Faculty, Ecology Center 
Utah State University
Courtney.Flint@usu.edu
Dr. Courtney Flint's CV - April 2026

Select Recent Publications

• Fjeldsted Thompson, M., Flint, C. G., & Holden, N. R. (2026). “Small town feel” in Utah: not just for small towns. Local Development & Society, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/26883597.2026.2629914  
• Gustine, R., CG Flint, JD Ulrich-Schad, A Theophilus, E. Epperson, J. Adam. 2024. Managing beyond water: Utilizing community wellbeing interviews in the Yakima River Basin for climate change adaptation. Environment & Society 30(1):7. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-15809-300107
• Theophilus A., JD Ulrich-Schad, CG Flint, E Epperson. (2024). Amenity migration and community wellbeing in Washington’s Kittitas County Post-COVID-19 Pandemic. Rural Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12590
• Flint CG, Henderson, LA, Vorenberg Hensley M. 2024. Fostering interactional resilience in social-ecological riverine landscapes: A case study from the Santa Fe River Watershed in New Mexico, U.S. In Thoms M and Fuller I. (eds). Resilience and Riverine Landscapes. Elsevier, Amsterdam. Pp. 341-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91716-2.00007-8
• Flint CG, Holdaway BM. 2024. River and watershed organizations in the U.S. Intermountain West: Key actors in social-ecological resilience. Socio-Ecological Practice Research 6: 41-54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-023-00172-8
• Wilson, S., CG Flint. 2024. Connectedness and wellbeing: Community and nature-based connection in the context of Utah’s rapid growth. Community Development 55(4): 498-514. https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2023.2286442