Breaking: Federal legislation introduced to address barriers to floodplain restoration

Communities across the country stand to benefit from a major step forward on flood resilience. Recently, federal lawmakers, including Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil (WI-01), introduced bipartisan legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to better enable floodplain restoration in areas mapped and regulated under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The House Bill is companion to legislation already introduced in the U.S. Senate, the Floodplain Enhancement & Recovery Act (S. 1564).

The Wisconsin Wetlands Association (WWA) supports this legislation and is thrilled to see Wisconsin represented among the original cosponsors of this legislation.

WWA has been working to understand the many obstacles that impede and prevent floodplain restoration in Wisconsin. Through discussions with national partners like American Rivers, and state organizations and communities, we’ve learned this work is hardest in FEMA-mapped floodplains because regulations have had the unintended effect of discouraging beneficial restoration.

The Floodplain Enhancement & Recovery Act addresses some of those main barriers by:

Creating a definition for ecosystem restoration, and provisions that treat floodplain restoration differently than development.
Reducing costly permitting fees and lengthy review timelines.
Creating flexibilities that enable local communities to permit a rise in base flood elevations for ecosystem restoration projects where it can be done safely to reduce flood risks.

Wisconsin has an estimated 84,000 miles of rivers, a great length of which have been altered and are disconnected from their adjacent floodplains. Where it makes sense, floodplain restoration that reconnects river and floodplain systems slows high energy flows and provides a place for sediment and other material to settle out. This translates into benefits like reduced flood risk, reliable base flow, improved water quality, and better fish & wildlife habitat.

Please contact your Wisconsin Congressional Representative and Senators to request their support for this federal legislation. (If you live in Representative Steil’s district, please contact his office to thank him for his leadership on this bill!)

Key points to include in your email include:

The bipartisan Floodplain Enhancement and Recovery Act addresses key regulatory barriers that have discouraged floodplain restoration in Wisconsin, and increases local/state authority to permit floodplain restoration projects.
Healthy river-floodplain systems are hydrologically connected and work together to moderate flood risks by capturing and slowly releasing water and dispersing the energy of flood flows; however, many floodplains in Wisconsin have become degraded and disconnected from their streams and rivers, compromising their ability to function and deliver these benefits.
In many cases, floodplain reconnection and restoration are possible, but barriers hinder the work needed to restore these resources. Some of the greatest barriers to restoring floodplains are in FEMA-mapped floodplains regulated under the National Flood Insurance Program.
The bipartisan Floodplain Enhancement and Recovery Act will address key National Flood Insurance Program barriers that prevent voluntary floodplain restoration and reconnection projects from advancing.
Enabling and increasing floodplain restoration is an important part of what we can do proactively to reduce flood risks and damages, and bring other benefits for water quality, fish & wildlife habitat, and more.

The Wisconsin Wetlands Association is grateful for the leadership of Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil, who joined his colleagues to sponsor the introduction of the legislation. Below is information from Congressman Steil and other legislative cosponsors.

Congressman Bryan Steil Press Release
House Introduction Press Release: Representative Troy Downing (MT-02), Representative Janelle Bynum (OR-02), Representative Bryan Steil (WI-01), Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03)
Senate Introduction Press Release: Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) Senator Steve Daines (R-MT)

Please reach out to WWA Policy Liaison Jennifer Western Hauser if you have any questions or would like to discuss this federal legislation.

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