Restoring Rivers and Floodplains for Habitat and Flood Risk Reduction: Experiences in Multi-Benefit Floodplain Management From California and Germany
Conventional flood control has emphasized structural measures such as levees, reservoirs, and engineered channels—measures that typically simplify river channels and cut them off from their floodplain, both with adverse environmental consequences. Structural measures tend to be rigid and not easily...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Environmental Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2021.778568/full |
| _version_ | 1818286074558939136 |
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| author | Anna Serra-Llobet Sonja C. Jähnig Sonja C. Jähnig Juergen Geist G. Mathias Kondolf Christian Damm Mathias Scholz Jay Lund Jay Lund Jeff J. Opperman Sarah M. Yarnell Anitra Pawley Eileen Shader John Cain Aude Zingraff-Hamed Theodore E. Grantham William Eisenstein Rafael Schmitt |
| author_facet | Anna Serra-Llobet Sonja C. Jähnig Sonja C. Jähnig Juergen Geist G. Mathias Kondolf Christian Damm Mathias Scholz Jay Lund Jay Lund Jeff J. Opperman Sarah M. Yarnell Anitra Pawley Eileen Shader John Cain Aude Zingraff-Hamed Theodore E. Grantham William Eisenstein Rafael Schmitt |
| author_sort | Anna Serra-Llobet |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Conventional flood control has emphasized structural measures such as levees, reservoirs, and engineered channels—measures that typically simplify river channels and cut them off from their floodplain, both with adverse environmental consequences. Structural measures tend to be rigid and not easily adapted to increased flooding regimes resulting from environmental change. Such actions also limit the natural hydrologic benefits of floodplains such as storing floodwaters, improving water quality, providing habitat for invertebrates and fish during periods of inundation, and supporting a multitude of cultural services. As these benefits are more widely recognized, policies are being adopted to encourage projects that reduce flood risks and restore floodplain ecosystems, while acknowledging the social-ecological context. The number of such projects, however, remains small. We assessed four multi-benefit floodplain projects (two in California, United States, and two in Germany) and characterized their drivers, history, and measures implemented. In both United States cases, the dominant driver behind the project was flood risk reduction, and ecosystem restoration followed, in one case inadvertently, in the other as a requirement to receive a subsidy for a flood risk reduction project. One German case was motivated by ecosystem restoration, but it was more widely accepted because it also offered flood management benefits. The fourth case was conceived in terms of balanced goals of flood risk reduction, ecosystem restoration, and recreation. We conclude that projects that both reduce flood risk and restore ecosystems are clearly possible and often cost-effective, and that they could be more widely implemented. The principal barriers are often institutional and regulatory, rather than technical. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T01:18:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dca18b76d5284e9aa407cb16923a3c31 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-665X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T01:18:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Environmental Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-dca18b76d5284e9aa407cb16923a3c312022-12-22T00:04:16ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Environmental Science2296-665X2022-03-01910.3389/fenvs.2021.778568778568Restoring Rivers and Floodplains for Habitat and Flood Risk Reduction: Experiences in Multi-Benefit Floodplain Management From California and GermanyAnna Serra-Llobet0Sonja C. Jähnig1Sonja C. Jähnig2Juergen Geist3G. Mathias Kondolf4Christian Damm5Mathias Scholz6Jay Lund7Jay Lund8Jeff J. Opperman9Sarah M. Yarnell10Anitra Pawley11Eileen Shader12John Cain13Aude Zingraff-Hamed14Theodore E. Grantham15William Eisenstein16Rafael Schmitt17Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, Social Science Matrix, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United StatesDepartment Community and Ecosystem Ecology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, GermanySchool of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, GermanyDepartment of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United StatesDepartment of Wetland Ecology, Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Rastatt, GermanyDepartment of Conservation Biology and Social-Ecological Systems, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United StatesCenter for Watershed Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States0World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC, United StatesCenter for Watershed Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States1California Department of Water Resources, Sacramento, CA, United States2American Rivers, Washington, DC, United States3River Partners, Sacramento, CA, United StatesSchool of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany4Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States5Environmental Science Associates, Sacramento, CA, United States6The Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United StatesConventional flood control has emphasized structural measures such as levees, reservoirs, and engineered channels—measures that typically simplify river channels and cut them off from their floodplain, both with adverse environmental consequences. Structural measures tend to be rigid and not easily adapted to increased flooding regimes resulting from environmental change. Such actions also limit the natural hydrologic benefits of floodplains such as storing floodwaters, improving water quality, providing habitat for invertebrates and fish during periods of inundation, and supporting a multitude of cultural services. As these benefits are more widely recognized, policies are being adopted to encourage projects that reduce flood risks and restore floodplain ecosystems, while acknowledging the social-ecological context. The number of such projects, however, remains small. We assessed four multi-benefit floodplain projects (two in California, United States, and two in Germany) and characterized their drivers, history, and measures implemented. In both United States cases, the dominant driver behind the project was flood risk reduction, and ecosystem restoration followed, in one case inadvertently, in the other as a requirement to receive a subsidy for a flood risk reduction project. One German case was motivated by ecosystem restoration, but it was more widely accepted because it also offered flood management benefits. The fourth case was conceived in terms of balanced goals of flood risk reduction, ecosystem restoration, and recreation. We conclude that projects that both reduce flood risk and restore ecosystems are clearly possible and often cost-effective, and that they could be more widely implemented. The principal barriers are often institutional and regulatory, rather than technical.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2021.778568/fullfloodplain managementflood risk managementCalifornia Central ValleyUnited StatesGermanymulti-benefit |
| spellingShingle | Anna Serra-Llobet Sonja C. Jähnig Sonja C. Jähnig Juergen Geist G. Mathias Kondolf Christian Damm Mathias Scholz Jay Lund Jay Lund Jeff J. Opperman Sarah M. Yarnell Anitra Pawley Eileen Shader John Cain Aude Zingraff-Hamed Theodore E. Grantham William Eisenstein Rafael Schmitt Restoring Rivers and Floodplains for Habitat and Flood Risk Reduction: Experiences in Multi-Benefit Floodplain Management From California and Germany Frontiers in Environmental Science floodplain management flood risk management California Central Valley United States Germany multi-benefit |
| title | Restoring Rivers and Floodplains for Habitat and Flood Risk Reduction: Experiences in Multi-Benefit Floodplain Management From California and Germany |
| title_full | Restoring Rivers and Floodplains for Habitat and Flood Risk Reduction: Experiences in Multi-Benefit Floodplain Management From California and Germany |
| title_fullStr | Restoring Rivers and Floodplains for Habitat and Flood Risk Reduction: Experiences in Multi-Benefit Floodplain Management From California and Germany |
| title_full_unstemmed | Restoring Rivers and Floodplains for Habitat and Flood Risk Reduction: Experiences in Multi-Benefit Floodplain Management From California and Germany |
| title_short | Restoring Rivers and Floodplains for Habitat and Flood Risk Reduction: Experiences in Multi-Benefit Floodplain Management From California and Germany |
| title_sort | restoring rivers and floodplains for habitat and flood risk reduction experiences in multi benefit floodplain management from california and germany |
| topic | floodplain management flood risk management California Central Valley United States Germany multi-benefit |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2021.778568/full |
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