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.
In my role at the Utah Water Research Laboratory, I am expanding educational and engagement opportunities in addition to general administrative support.
Associate Director, Utah Water Research Lab
Professor, Environment & Society
Faculty, Ecology Center
Utah State University
Courtney.Flint@usu.edu
Dr. Courtney Flint's CV - August 2026
Mike Englert, MS Environment & Society
Bailey Holdaway, PhD Environment & Society
Nicolas Holden, MS Environment & Society
Sydnee Jensen, MS Environment & Society
Allison Rafert, MS Environment & Society
Alex Theophilus, PhD Sociology
Sara McCulley, BS Environmental Studies and Recreation Resource Management
Kyle Stutz, BS Environmental Studies and Law and Constitutional Studies
Select Recent Publications
- Holdaway, B., and C. Flint. 2026. Trying To Be “At the Table” Instead of “On the Menu”: Irrigation Company Perspectives on Managing Water. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 62, no. 4: e70144. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.70144
- 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
Ongoing Research
Recently Completed Research
