Wisconsin professionals promote collaboration to restore wetlands and floodplains and mitigate flood hazards in the Rock River Basin
The Rock River Coalition and Environmental Law Institute presented four monthly webinars that identify opportunities for emergency, floodplain, and wetland management agencies to better work together to maximize the flood control and ecosystem service benefits of our wetlands. These collaborations save financial and environmental resources and build community resilience to climate change.
We again brought together the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Emergency Management, the Association of State Floodplain Managers and other local and state agencies to talk about projects and programs that can maximize shared priorities and benefits to efficiently protect the people and habitat of the Rock River Basin.
This webinar series addressed the political and environmental boots-on-the-ground realities of today's Wisconsin conditions. We invite appropriate colleagues to be part of the give and take of a peer-led webinar series. Dr. Rebecca Kihslinger, Science and Policy Analyst, and Director of the Wetlands Program for the Environmental Law Institute, moderated.
Click on the title of each event for a link to the event page:
- August 6, 2015 - Why Wetland Restorations Fail: Lessons Learned
- September 17, 2015 - Wisconsin Flood Inundation Mapping and Tulsa's Floodplain Management Program
- October 29, 2015 - Model Wetland Ordinance and Stormwater Management
- November 12, 2015 - Floodplain Acquisition Programs: Improving Community Resilience and Achieving Habitat Benefits
Click on the title of each webinar below for a link to an archived recording of the 2014 webinars:
- August 21, 2014 - Opportunities for Local Governments to Engage in Wetland Conservation: An overview of local government roles and responsibilities in wetland conservation.
- September 16 , 2014 - The Rock River TMDL, Where Are We Now?: An overview of the first full year of TMDL implementation, including a second growing season, with a focus on watershed benefits.
- October 21, 2014 - Landscape-scale Identification of Actually Restorable Wetlands: An overview of a procedure for identifying restorable wetlands at large scales.
- November 11, 2014 - Cost Benefit Analysis and Natural Conservation as a Mitigation Strategy
Click on the title of each webinar below for a link to an archived recording of the 2013 webinars:
- June 17, 2013 - Adaptive Management and the Rock River Basin TMDL: What is adaptive management? What are the opportunities for wetland restoration and what are the potential flood mitigation benefits?
- July 15, 2013 - Wetland Restoration in the Rock River Basin: A description of different wetland restoration programs - What are the incentives? What are the results?
- August 19, 2013 - The FEMA Hazard Mitigation Buyout Program: Making the most of the land once the structures are gone - case studies from Wisconsin communities.
- September 16, 2013 - Wetlands as Problem Solvers: Watershed-scale assessment tools to help communities protect and restore wetlands to address watershed needs.
Contact Rebecca Kihslinger at kihslinger@eli.org or Beth Gehred at beth.gehred@tacrcd.com for more information.
This Webinar Series was organized by the Town and Country RC&D, the Rock River Coalition, and the Environmental Law Institute with generous funding from the McKnight Foundation.