Assisting Vermont Communities in the Assessment, Protection and

Restoration of River Corridors and Floodplains - Mike Kline, VT DEC

• Data & Mapping for Flood & Fluvial Erosion Hazards

• Technical Assistance with Planning and Implementation

• Broad-based Funding Incentives

• Enhanced Emergency Relief Cost Share

> 50% of Vermont streams historically straightened

200+ years

dredging

channelingdraining

The course of many Vermont rivers a relict of:

Growing Consensus in VT

..has been a recipe

for erosion.

Trying to contain flows

and rapidly drain the land…

Channel evolution confounds

flood mapping and results in the

under-estimation of risk in Vermont.

Not in the Mapped SFHA

Major erosion and depositional

processes underway in response

to channelization

75%

Schumm

River Corridor Planningw/Stream Geomorphic Assessment and

River Corridor Delineation

Watershed-Scale Strategies

and

Reach-Specific Projects

To manage streams toward a least

erosive equilibrium condition with

naturally functioning floodplains

Jamaica, VT

Statewide River Corridor Layer

Augmenting SFHA Maps

20% VT Rivers

with SFHA Maps

100% VT RiversWith Corridor Maps

River Channel and Floodplain Management

must go Hand-in-Hand

Encroachments rely on the bankrupt

idea that all rivers can be channelized.

Vermont Regulatory Performance Standards

• Equilibrium

• Connectivity

• River Corridor Protection

Tier 1 – Online training course

How Rivers Work

Tier 2 – Three day field course

Rivers and Roads

Tier 3 – Technical design courses

Establish a three-tiered river management training program

To enhance municipal cooperation and interagency coordination

Flood Resilient Communities Program: Protecting and Restoring River Corridors in Vermont

Vermont Agencies:

Commerce and Community Development

Emergency Management

Natural Resources

Transportation

Public Service

Agriculture

Local and Regional:

Watershed Associations

Regional Planning Commissions

Municipalities

Environmental Organizations

Local Land Trusts

Utilities and Business Community

Natural Resource Conservation Districts

Federal:

FEMA

FHWA

HUD

EPA

NRCS

USFS

USFWS

USGS

NOAA

Private

Foundations

Vermont Transportation

Resiliency Project

State and local mitigation strategies to address road and stream crossing

vulnerability to inundation, erosion, and deposition-related damage.

Identify and prioritize both pre- and post-disaster projects.

Tropical Storm Irene - Middlebury

2X the Volume - 1/2 the Peak

Mean annual value of flood

mitigation services provided to

Middlebury, VT is over $600,000

Extensive Wetland and FloodplainConserved by TNC and USDA

Ave 77% reduction in damages

Naturally Functioning

Wetland/Floodplains

Watson, K.B. et al. (UVM)

In Review

= Economic Resilience

flow

Local

State State

Local

Federal

State

Local

No action Four mitigation actions:

1. Current AOT Road standards

2. National Flood Insurance Program

3. Local Hazard Mitigation Plan

4. Local Emergency Operations Plan

Four mitigation actions and

• River Corridor Protection, or

• FEMA Community Rating System credit for

no new structures in FEMA flood hazard area

After the disaster:

7.5% 12.5% 17.5%

Vermont Emergency Relief and Assistance Fund Incentives

Incentives for River Corridor

and Floodplain Protection

1. Support river and

floodplain data collection

2. Assist with planning

and implementation

3. Increase State and Fed

cost share and grants to

municipalities to adopt

river corridor and

floodplain protections

4. Link disaster recovery

cost share funding to

municipal protections