NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS
Sharing Lessons Learned Developing a guide for community flood resilience
“The L-536 levee project is a great demonstration for how communities can use nature-based approaches to reduce their flood risk,” says Barbara Charry, The Nature Conservancy’s floodplains and nature-based solutions strategy manager in Missouri. “This Playbook is our way to help make it easier for communities to pursue these approaches.” The development of the Playbook is supported by The Nature Conservancy with experience-based
contributions from project partners involved in the L-536 setback project including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. “One of the key takeaways illustrated in the Playbook is the power of local leadership demonstrated by the Atchison County Levee District, which took a holistic approach with their entire levee system,” says Dru Buntin, Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, “I believe this Playbook can be a great resource to our river communities in Missouri and beyond that have dealt with repetitive flood events and want to look at more resilient and protective solutions.” The Playbook will be organized in four distinct but complementary sections to tell the story, share the challenges, present policy recommendations and illustrate the how-to for communities ready to take action. “When we set out to move back the levee in Atchison County, we didn’t have a guide or checklist, but we had a group of partners committed to the same goal,” says Barbara. “Our goal with this Playbook is to decrease barriers, offer solutions and provide a guide for both pre- and post-disaster actions that would make this process easier for the next community.”
In March 2019, abnormal weather patterns in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota caused record-setting flooding along the Missouri River, resulting in widespread catastrophic damage throughout the river valley including the farming town of Rock Port, in Atchison County, Missouri. Ryan Ottmann, president of the Atchison County Levee District recalls the 2019 flood as the worst he can remember. “The flood of ’93 was bad, and the flood of 2011 was a little worse,” he says. “But the flood of 2019 was exponentially worse than all the other floods combined. It was water from bluff to bluff for 200 days—and damage beyond belief.” Following the historic flood, a multi-agency team worked with leadership from the Atchison County Levee District to complete a highly complex $100 million levee setback, literally moving the levee back from the river to provide increased future protection and reconnect over 1,000 acres to the historic floodplain. The new levee footprint reduces the flood risk to the local community and increases the habitat complex to more than 7,000 acres. Determined to share their lessons learned, the partner group is collaborating once again, but this time it’s to develop the L-536 Levee Setback Playbook, a how-to guide for communities interested in pursuing similar nature-based solutions that enhance flood resiliency.
LEARN MORE about the L-536 project and playbook, at nature.org/MoRiverLevee .
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THIS PAGE Members of the L-536 partner group standing on the sand berm adjacent to the new levee © Barbara Charry/TNC
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