Resilient Rural America Project (RRAP)
RRAP Module #2: Rural
Flood Mitigation
Rural Resilience to Extreme Weather: Implementing Resilient Land Use for Flood Mitigation
Welcome to RRAP Module #2!
The RRAP project partners are pleased to provide this open source training module. We hope you find it useful and effective in catalyzing action for resilient land use practices in your community. This module builds on RRAP Module #1 for Resilient Land Use Planning, which includes risk assessment and integration of resilient land use strategies into comprehensive plan updates. It assumes your community identified flooding as a priority risk by completing local resilience planning or a history of flooding in your community. If you do not have basic risk assessment and planning in place, we encourage you to complete Module #1 or other resilience planning process as the groundwork for taking action on flood mitigation.
This module was launched in early 2021. We welcome your feedback to help improve the module’s content. Please take a moment to respond to the feedback points as you move through the module. We would like to hear from you about your rural flood mitigation actions, especially those facilitated by this training. You can reach us at info@mfpp.org. Thank-you!
Rural Flood Mitigation
How can rural communities take action using resilient land use strategies to address flood impacts and future risks?
The purpose of this training module is to efficiently support flood mitigation action steps by rural communities, based upon prior flood risk assessments. It is designed for rural leaders and/or rural service providers seeking to take action with flood mitigation measures. The topics will be useful to elected officials, planners, stormwater managers, natural resource managers, emergency managers, landowners, and others with an interest in reducing flood risks and maximizing beneficial rural land use decisions. The module focuses on flood mitigation measures that work at larger rural landscape scales. It provides a series of topics to guide you through the steps of implementing selected resilient land use strategies that address current flooding and prepare for future flood risks.
Each topic is presented as a series of critical questions with the answers you need to know, plus supporting case studies and other resources for deeper learning for your specific local conditions and flood mitigation needs. The topics are inter-related and we recommend you review them all. However, you may notice some overlap between topics, since each topic is prepared to serve as a stand alone overview on that particular subject matter.
Topics 1-5 provide overviews and context regarding rural flood mitigation and local decision making. Topics 6-9 cover specific flood mitigation strategies focused on land use practices. Topics 10-13 cover implementation topics to support taking action steps effectively. The time to review each topic is estimated at 30-60 minutes. However, time needed for deeper research and preparation for taking action will vary greatly for each topic and user according to local community conditions.
Each topic in the module provides a downloadable pdf of that topic. There is also a downloadable Handbook with an executive summary and links to all of the individual Topic pdf downloads.
RRAP Module #2 Topics:
| 1: | Module Introduction: Background and Objectives |
|---|---|
| 2: | Rural Flood Mitigation: An Overview |
| 3: | Flood Risk Assessment |
| 4: | Community Decision-Making |
| 5: | Land Use Strategies for Flood Mitigation |
| 6: | Rural Zoning Ordinance |
| 7: | Floodplain Management |
| 8: | Natural Resource Management: Forests and Farms |
| 9: | Green Infrastructure at Large Landscape Scale |
| 10: | Benefit-Cost Analysis |
| 11: | Communications for Flood Mitigation |
| 12: | Funding Sources for Flood Mitigation Actions |
| 13: | Climate Change Adaptation Certification Tool (CCACT) |
| 14: | Key Messages |
| Conclusions and Recommendations |
*You will be prompted to log in or register an account before using the module.
States of Innovation: What is
Flood Mitigation? (Pew Trusts)
PewTrusts.org/Flood-Prepared-Communities
How are states protecting lives and livelihoods through flood mitigation? For more information about Pew's work on flood mitigation, visit: Flood-Prepared Communities
- To learn more about how state governments work, check out "States of Innovation," our collection of coverage on evidence-based policies working in the states: States of Innovation
Project collaborators:
Project made possible by funding from:
With appreciation for the Module Beta Test Volunteers who completed the Module Review Process:
- Cynthia Allen, Environmental Education, Middle Tennessee State University
- Megan Hoff, Associate Planner, Lincoln County, OR
- Melanie Perello, NOAA Coastal Management Fellow
- Erika Pham, GIS Analyst, TAMU Agrilife Extension
- Jenn Tribble, Policy Analyst, TN Dept. of Environment and Conservation
- Nicholas Zimny, Shea, Planning/Zoning Official, Indiana Borough, PA
*You will be prompted to log in or register an account before using the module.