Floodplains support a tremendous wealth of goods and services, including fisheries, water filtration, flood storage, rich agricultural soils, flat ground for building, wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities, etc. While society has discussed the ideal of integrated floodplain management for many years, the shift to this ideal has been hampered by the reality of the narrowly defined programs and policies established to meet singular goals. Rather than maximizing the goods and services we derive from our floodplains, this “stove-piped” approach to floodplain management leads to unintended consequences, inefficiency and conflict. In Puget Sound salmon runs remain on the brink, flood risks continue to rise, and conflicts between competing goals persist. Those involved in the Puget Sound Floodplains by Design partnership – including The Nature Conservancy, Puget Sound Partnership, Washington Department of Ecology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, US Environmental Project Agency, and US Geological Survey – believe that we can do better. The term “Floodplains by Design” infers a shift away from the conflict and unintended consequences of single-objective projects to integrated floodplain management for multiple benefits. It infers a move toward better floodplain design, where decisions are made in an integrated fashion considering a broader variety of the functions, values, and risks associated with floodplains. Projects within the multiple benefits paradigm can have a larger extent and scope when they both improve ecological functions of floodplains and reduce flood risk projects as they are more likely to garner the needed political support and public funding. Many have been trying to integrate multiple benefits at the local level. The Floodplains by Design partnership is accelerating these on-the-ground efforts through a comprehensive regional effort focused on aligning programs, resources and politics with a multiple benefits ideal. This presentation will describe the FbD partnership’s approach to addressing the financial, social, policy and technical issues that have hampered both Salish Sea ecosystem recovery and integrated floodplain management, share our results to date, and discuss our plans for the future. We will share insights from an innovative regional effort to make room for floods and fish that is clearly gaining momentum and has recently succeeded in securing $50M in new state funding for multiple benefit floodplain projects
