Iowa wildlife management areas receive $500K for climate change protection

Two wildlife management areas in Iowa will receive more than $500,000 in collective funding for nature-based solutions that will help them become more resilient to climate change, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced this week.

Nature-based solutions, also known as green or natural infrastructure, help protect ecosystems and communities from climate change by integrating or enhancing naturally protective features.

Restoring oyster reefs on coastlines, for example, helps protect shores from sea level rise and erosion. Building green spaces in cities reduces stormwater runoff and the urban heat island effect. Levee setbacks and floodplain restoration projects — like those underway in Cedar Rapids’ Time Check neighborhood — reduce flood risks by giving waterways more space to swell.

“In this case with our projects, we're looking at nature-based solutions that build wetland capacity,” said Sabrina Chandler, the service’s Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge manager. “That's a nature-based solution that works really well in our area on the Mississippi River because it holds additional floodwaters.”

Last spring, the flooding Mississippi reached its third-highest crest in Iowa communities.

States within the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, including Iowa, proposed projects that would further climate resiliency, climate adaptation, beneficial habitat and environmental justice initiatives within the Upper Mississippi River basin.

The federal service selected four projects for its first round of funding, including two projects on lands managed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources:

Along with their flood mitigation benefits, these projects also will create high-quality habitat for fish and wildlife along the Mississippi River, Chandler said. Several species of freshwater mussels, which are sensitive to erosion and sedimentation, will benefit from the expanded floodplains. Bald eagles and whooping cranes can also take advantage of the new habitat.

Most of Jackson and Allamakee counties rank between the 80th and 90th percentiles for flood risks nationally, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool. Depending on the census tract, the percentage of low-income residents in those counties can rank up to the 88th percentile nationally.

The projects will better protect these communities from flooding and drought — both forecast to increase with climate change. The wetlands also will improve water quality, thanks to the filtration their plant communities offer.

“Those two projects checked all the boxes,” Chandler said about the selected Iowa projects. Projects in southeast Wisconsin and in western Illinois received $500,000 and $350,000 respectively to round out the awarded funds.

The projects will break ground no later than September 2024. Their funding stems from a $10 million allocation through the Inflation Reduction Act for resiliency and restoration in the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers. A second round of funded projects should be announced next year.

Brittney J. Miller is the Energy & Environment Reporter for The Gazette and a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Comments: (319) 398-8370; brittney.miller@thegazette.com