As some of you may know, Iowa DNR is holding virtual meetings this week to gather stakeholder input on flood control and mitigation in the lower Missouri River Basin. This is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) planning assistance to states (PAS) process. USACE offices in Omaha and Kansas City are working with state officials in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa to identify areas along the lower Missouri River to prioritize for flood risk reduction and flood management projects. The study and resulting plan will be presented to USACE for future project prioritization. IDNR will host 3 webinars via Zoom: · Tuesday, July 28, 1-3 PM · Wednesday, July 29, 9-11 AM · Thursday, July 30, 6-8 PM Each webinar will follow the same agenda and format. *Click here for meeting and Zoom connection information. <https://www.iowadnr.gov/simra>* We encourage you and other stakeholders (not only those living and working in affected areas but organizations and groups that have an interest in conservation, climate and community resilience, and natural approaches to flood mitigation) to attend these meetings. Even if you don’t live or work along the Missouri River, all taxpayers are impacted by how the river is managed. It’s important that the folks leading the planning process hear support for natural infrastructure solutions such as floodplain reconnection, wetland restoration, and levee setbacks as solutions to flooding along the lower Missouri River. A few key points to consider or present at the meetings: · Natural infrastructure <https://1mississippi.org/importance-of-floodplains-and-wetlands/> (i.e. floodplain reconnection, wetland restoration, and levee setbacks) can provide flood protection by holding water that has overflown a river’s banks. They protect lives and livelihoods of nearby communities by holding great amounts of water. They are an effective line of defense and underutilized among the tools in the flood management toolbox. · DNR should analyze and propose specific places where natural infrastructure will have the greatest flood risk reduction impact. The Nature Conservancy’s Floodplain Prioritization Tool is a good resource. · Wetlands and floodplains act as “safety valves” that not only store floodwater, but also create wildlife habitat, improve water quality, and increase recreation opportunities. · USACE and state agencies should think about resilience to future flooding in the context of climate change. Natural infrastructure increases system resilience to greater precipitation and extreme weather events by retaining water and reducing flood velocities. · Flooding is an equity issue. More often than not, under-resourced communities (particularly communities that can't afford to keep raising levees higher) take the worst of the damage from flooding. Continuing to build more conventional infrastructure (such as levees and floodwalls) that by design push water downstream will only continue the cycle of destructive flooding events in the future and put vulnerable, under-resourced communities at increased risk of flooding. · In addition to local business and agricultural interests, hydrologists, geologists, and other scientists should be included in the process to share latest research on flooding and flood mitigation. Examples/Cases: · Restoring natural infrastructure is a form of disaster mitigation. Places along the Missouri River like the Big Muddy Refuge or the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area are keeping high water from further inundating vulnerable communities down river. · A study of the Upper Mississippi River found that restoring the 100-year flood zone of the Upper Mississippi watershed could store 39 million acre-feet of floodwater, the volume that caused the Great Flood of 1993, and save over $16 billion in projected flood damage costs. · In Illinois*, *a 2014 study conducted for the Chicago Wilderness Green Infrastructure Vision, found that natural systems are the least costly and most efficient way to control flooding. Wetlands in the seven-county Chicago metropolitan area provide an average $22,000 of benefits per acre each year in water flow regulation. This study also found that watersheds with 30% wetland or lake areas saw flood peaks that were 60 to 80% lower than watersheds without such coverage, and that preventing building in floodplain areas could save an average of $900 per acre per year in flood damages. · The increased conveyance of flood water is also contributing to huge nutrient pollution problems in states in the Lower Mississippi River basin and the Gulf. Toxic algal blooms that have shut down fisheries operations, closed beaches, and even killed pets. Floodplain restoration and wetlands also filter nutrients and provide water quality benefits. This is the beginning of a lengthy process of evaluating flood mitigation along the lower Missouri River. After the states hold stakeholder meetings, the results of the study will be released and public comment will be available at that point. After the study and plan are approved, specific flood mitigation projects will be proposed and a NEPA process followed for each project. There will also be legislation to fund such projects. So this is not the last opportunity to be heard, but it is imperative that natural infrastructure approaches be included in the study and planning process. Advocating for natural infrastructure at this point lays the groundwork for proposing some priority funding legislation for floodplain connections and wildlife habitat as part of flood reduction strategies. -- *Debbie Neustadt * *Des Moines, Iowa* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to [log in to unmask] For all the latest news and activities, sign up for Sierra Club Insider (http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra-club-email/insider), the Club's twice-monthly flagship e-newsletter.