Flood control equated with police, fire protection

Flood control has become “as essential to government as police and fire protection,” State Sen. Rob Hogg said Friday at a press conference in Des Moines.

Following the widespread flooding of 2008, which destroyed 1,300 homes in Cedar Rapids, and the recent “disaster on the Maquoketa River,” which washed away the Lake Delhi dam and drained the 9-mile-long impoundment, flood control will be an important issue in the November elections, said Hogg, a Democrat representing District 19 in Cedar Rapids.

Both public officials and candidates for public office had better be ready with solid plans for reducing the state's flood risk, Hogg said at a press conference sponsored by The Nature Conservancy.

“It has happened so often and caused so much trauma that candidates have to be able to say what they would do on both the prevention and recovery sides of flooding,” Hogg said.

Hogg and others at the conference advocated natural solutions such as expanded floodplains, restored wetlands and native and other perennial plantings of vegetation.

Natural solutions outperform dams and levees in minimizing flood damage, said Mark Tercek, national president of The Nature Conservancy, which has funded extensive research in the Swamp White Oak Preserve on the lower Cedar River.

Tercek announced that the organization plans to expand its research to address the threat of altered hydrology throughout the entire Iowa-Cedar Basin.

“We have recognized that the globally rare plant communities that we have invested millions of dollars in protecting and restoring in the Lower Cedar will not be viable unless we can address altered hydrology throughout the basin,” he said.

Asserting that “it makes good business sense to invest in nature,” Tercek said other benefits include improved water quality, reduced soil erosion, improved wildlife habitat and more recreational opportunities.

Hogg said both Iowa and the nation have to place a much higher priority on funding conservation practices that can improve water retention in river basins.

In the Cedar River basin alone, he said, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has identified 1,000 parcels suitable for the federal CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program) but has funding to do only about 10 per year.

Speakers at the conference said Iowans can help increase conservation priorities by encouraging their representatives in Congress to include ample funding for restoring Iowa's rivers, watersheds and floodplains in future versions of the farm bill and the Water Resources Development Act.

They can also vote Nov. 2 for the Iowa's Water and Lands Legacy constitutional amendment, which would establish permanent, constitutionally protected funding that will strengthen Iowa watersheds, the speakers said.