Floods: Catalysts for Change and Restoration

An Ecological Society of America/American Institute of Biological Sciences Forum of Ecological and Policy Implications

Monday, September 14, 1998
8:30 AM - 12 Noon
Room HC5, Capitol Building
Washington, DC

Floods: Catalysts for Change and Restoration is a half-day forum that will examine the ecology of floods and the implications for future management and policy.

This ESA/AIBS-organized forum brings together ecological scientists, federal agency, and NGO representatives to address the destructive and restorative forces of natural and managed floods in the context of flood management and floodplain restoration policies.

Floods are among the most common and costly large natural disturbances affecting the United States. Approximately 9 out of every 10 presidential disaster declarations are associated with flooding; total flood damage costs >from 1990-97 totaled nearly $34 billion; and over 200 people lost their lives in floods between 1990 and 1995. At the same time, floods are essential for maintaining healthy riverine ecosystems and hold great promise as a restoration tool.

This forum is designed to explore these diverse aspects of floods. Areas to be covered include:

• flooding as a natural disturbance
• ecological services provided by wetlands and intact floodplains
• managed flooding as a restoration tool
• the lessons to be learned from ecological science in designing sustainable floodplain communities
• post-flooding community recovery strategies
• incorporating the lessons of ecological science in sustainable floodplain management policies

The forum is certain to be a provocative discussion of one of our nation's most daunting environmental challenges.

Agenda

8:30 AM Continental Breakfast

9:00 Objectives & Introduction Hill Sponsor, Society Pres./Exec. Dir.

9:15 Flooding as a natural disturbance (William Michener, Jones Ecological Research Center) Lessons learned from managed floods (Jack Schmidt, Utah State Univ.) Past, present, and future of flood policy (Betsy Cody, CRS)

10:00 Q & A

10:30 Roundtable Discussion

• Penny Firth, Moderator, National Science Foundation
• William Michener, Jones Ecological Research Center
• Jack Schmidt, Utah State University
• Betsy Cody, Congressional Research Service
• Shannon Cunniff, Bureau of Reclamation
• Mike Davis, Army Corps of Engineers
• FEMA representative---to be determined
• David Conrad, National Wildlife Federation

11:15 Q & A

11:45 Wrap-up

Read More Announcements