Flood stories and news regularly focus on structural solutions to flood prevention – levees, dams and other “infrastructure” that attempts to channel higher and higher volumes of water into smaller and smaller waterways.
Over 90% of Iowa’s landscape is used for agricultural production. Soil conservation is vitally important to the future of Iowa farming and Iowa’s economy. Today, Iowa farms lose an average of five tons of our world-famous soil per acre each year due to erosion. Protecting our land and our amazing landscape must be a top priority – our health, our economy and our quality of life are at stake. The protection and improvement of wetlands has the potential to significantly reduce and mitigate the potential for future flooding.
Iowa Journal – Wetlands as Flood Control
NRCS – Restoring Iowa Wetlands
To protect Iowa’s land, we need dedicated revenue for soil conservation and watershed protection programs administered by the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. In addition, revenue should be targeted for natural resources management, additional funding for Iowa’s popular REAP (Resource Enhancement and Protection) program, and local conservation partnership programs as part of a strategic effort to best address conservation needs in local communities.
These efforts are critical to restoring and preserving critical wildlife habitat for ducks and other waterfowl. Protection of habitat and public access areas for hunting, fishing and wildlife watching are key to preserving our rich waterfowling traditions – they are also important ways to store water and slow it's flow downstream.
A significant percentage of revenues should also be dedicated to water quality, soil conservation and wetlands restoration/preservation efforts as non-structural approaches to helping reduce, prevent, and mitigate the potential for future flooding. According to the NRCS:
Wetlands–the link between land and water. They are the transition zones where the flow of water, the recycling of nutrients and the energy of the sun meet to produce a unique ecosystem. Wetlands are a place where plants and animals live amid standing water or saturated soils, housing the majority of Iowa’s endangered species. More than 10,000 invertebrate species are adapted to life in freshwater wetlands nationally. Wetlands are valuable for people, too. They filter pollutants from upland runoff, help control flooding, and maintain populations of wildlife. In the past 150 years, however, the majority of wetlands have been destroyed. In Iowa alone, over 90 percent of wetlands have been drained for agriculture and development. Iowa’s remaining wetlands are dependent on legislation, government programs and individual actions for protection.
Hunting, fishing and enjoying the great outdoors make our sporting traditions an important part of the Iowa we love. Unfortunately, our fish and wildlife habitats are at risk. Iowa stands to lose hundreds of thousands of acres of critical wildlife habitat over the next two years. Habitat loss is why duck and other waterfowl numbers have plummeted. Iowa has less than 10% of its wetlands left and has lost over 5 million acres of critical waterfowl habitat. Additionally, over 500 bodies of water in Iowa are polluted – with everything from bacteria to cancer-causing chemicals.
What can be done, and why? See the video: