Integrating the Science, Policy, and Tools for Floodplain Markets and Incentives

Floodplains are a source of critical ecosystem services, including flood storage, improved water quality, fish and wildlife Habitat, open space and groundwater recharge. They are also a nexus of regulatory and economic pressures. This project will take the best available science, combined with policy innovations, to create a package that communities and producers can use to better manage floodplains, including market­based incentives. The Nature Conservancy has built Floodplains by Design, a tool for urban floodplain planning that the City of Portland has effectively implemented in several areas, and that could be adapted to prioritize floodplain restoration opportunities on working lands. The Freshwater Trust is building tools to quantify nutrient and temperature reduction from floodplain restoration on farms, which can be adapted and supplemented with Habitat and other metrics to inform local comprehensive planning. Willamette Partnership has built tools to assessment Habitat functions with U.S. EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that can be adapted to streamline permitting for floodplain conservation practices with farmers and cities. Those same tools can also be used to help farmers and conservation practitioners communicate how restoration benefits their neighbors in cities and can help cities communicate how their practices benefit agriculture downstream. This project will also help NRCS better leverage investments through the Wetland Reserve Program, Floodplain Easement Program, Environmental Incentives Quality Program and other initiatives by coordinating with local, city and county planning agencies and state natural resource agencies to target investments, quantify outcomes and create additional incentives for landowners to participate in these programs and contribute to floodplain health.