Challenges and Opportunities for Managing
Flood Risk and Floodplain ManagementResults from the 3rd Gilbert F. White Forum
The 34th ASFPM Annual Conference
May 18, 2010
Oklahoma City, OK
Doug Plasencia, P.E., CFM
ASFPM Foundation Events Committee Chair
Vice President Michael Baker Jr. Inc.
The ASFPM Foundation
 Extension of ASFPM
 Dedicated to raising
funds and supporting
education and research
for flood loss reduction
 Example Efforts
 Flood Forums
 Flood Manager Game
 Publications
 CFM Seed Funding
 NAI Initiatives
The 3rd Gilbert F. White Forum Sponsors
 AECOM
 Bender Consulting Services, Inc.
 CDM
 The Council Oak
 Dewberry
 ESP Associates, PA
 Greenhorne & O'Mara
 H2O Partners, Inc.
 Michael Baker Jr. Inc.
 PBS&J
 Stantec Consulting, Inc.
 URS Corp.
The Gilbert F. White Flood Policy Forum
 Foundation Signature
Event
 “…periodic gathering of
experts...”
 “…national discussion of
important floodplain
management issues…”
 “…named after Gilbert F.
White the most influential
floodplain management
policy expert of the 20th
century…”
The Gilbert F. White Flood Policy Forum
 “The forums are not only a tribute to his
work, but also a recognition of the success of
his deliberative approach to policy analysis
and research”
3rd Gilbert F. White Flood Policy Forum &
Symposia – Flood Risk Management
 Symposium 1 - Defining and Measuring Flood
Risks and Floodplain Resources (September
2009)
 Symposium 2 - Flood Risk Perception,
Communication, and Behavior (November
2009)
 Forum - Managing Flood Risk (March 2010)
Question #1
 Has a century of work in flood protection
resulted in an outcome that we would wish to
continue into the future?
Observation #1
 As a nation, water resources development has
been our defacto floodplain and coastal policy
for nearly a century.
 Will this policy approach be satisfactory for
the future?
Question #2
 Should we be concerned about the extent and
condition of our floodplain and coastal
resources?
Observation #2
 The ability of floodplain
resources to provide
fisheries, clean water,
habitat, and other
functions for our future
is in question.
 What adjustments are
necessary to ensure our
resources are sufficient
for the future?
The Need for a Resource Conservation Ethic in
Flood Risk Management Plasencia & Monday 2009
 Maintain sight of the dual policy role of FPM
 Recognize the importance of these resources
to our economy and our overall well-being
 Suggests similarities between our
conservation oriented advances in forestry
and agronomy policy with FPM
 Define Flood Risk Management to include
“Flooding Risk” and “Floodplain Risk”
Question #3
 How do we craft a flood risk and resource
management policy and strategy that will
make a difference in human behavior?
Observation #3
 Individuals and policy makers simply do not
understand or choose to ignore flood risk or
threats to our resources.
Question #4
 How do we adapt to a changing world
(climate, population, economies…)?
Observation #4
 We traditionally are much better at planning
based on past histories vs. forecasting with
many unknowns .
A Flood Risk Management and Resource
Strategy has Broad Implications




Introduces “risk continuum” vs. “at risk or
not at risk”
Should allow the ability to benchmark and
monitor risk at various levels
Opens the door for considering and
communicating a series of actions that
increase or decrease risk
To be effective must be inclusive of a
variety of uses and functions within
floodplains and coastal areas.
OUTCOMES
How do we benchmark and monitor our
progress towards achieving this overarching
vision?
 The Forum experts agreed that a suite of
indicators is needed
 Indicators could be grouped
.
How do we get the Public and Decision
makers to Act in a more Risk-aware and
Resource-sensitive Manner?
 “How do we move the dial”
 Incentives (financial and societal) for avoiding
floodplain and coastal areas in development
and redevelopment
 Revival of programs that foster locally driven
processes for change
 Flood insurance premiums reflect true risk
 increase the involvement of stakeholders
What do we need to adjust in policy and
programs to meet the overarching vision and
overcome other challenges?
 Achieve consensus on the term “flood risk.”
 Risk management must embrace the value of
the natural resources
 We are stuck on communicating the
complexities of flood risk to the public with
little result
 Progress will not be made unless we set
defined goals and monitor
 Goals and approaches should be locally based
and techniques should be scalable.
What are the knowledge gaps we need to
fill?
 An inventory of floodplain resources and
development .
 What is it about successful community-based
approaches that makes them work?
 Understanding what motivates people to
purchase property where they do.
 Understand risk avoidance better. Can we get
people to change their behavior?
 Assess the full cost of local decisions—
externalization is usually unquantified.
 Identify anticipated impacts of climate change
Action Agenda
 The Forum suggested:
 The newly revived Federal Interagency Task
Force adopt a common definition for
comprehensive flood risk management as
part of an update to the UNP
 All people doing training and messaging need
to be on same page.
 Local indicators of progress in floodplain
management need to be developed
 The incentives and disincentives inherent in
existing federal/state programs be assessed
to determine which support/undermine
comprehensive flood risk management
The 3rd Gilbert F. White Forum Volunteers
 Bill Brown
 Greg Main
 Bruce Bender
 Jacki Monday
 Chad Berginnis
 Jeanne Christie
 Clive Goodwin
 Kimberly Bitters
 Dale Lehman
 Larry Larson
 Debbie Pond
 Linda Manning
 Dennis Miletti
 Maria Honeycutt
 Diane Brown
 Pam Poque
 Doug Bellomo
 Sally McConkey
 Doug Plasencia
 Sam Riley Medlock
 Ed Thomas
 Scott Edelman
 Firas Mikaram
 Tim Axtman
 George Riedel
 Victor Hom
 Gerry Galloway
 Wally Wilson
 Greg Baecher
QUESTIONS
Questions
The 34th ASFPM Annual Conference
May 18, 2010
Oklahoma City, OK
Doug Plasencia, P.E., CFM
ASFPM Foundation Events Committee Chair
Vice President Michael Baker Jr. Inc.