Functioning Floodplain Initiative for Improved Flood Resiliency, Restored Water Quality and Enhanced Habitat in Vermont USA

Connected and naturally-functioning floodplains have many associated values, including enhanced fish and wildlife habitats, water quality protection and improvement, avoided damage from floods and fluvial erosion, and storage of carbon affecting the earth’s climate. This presentation will review progress on Vermont’s multi-phase Functioning Floodplain Initiative to support floodplain restoration and protection in the Lake Champlain basin and better communicate the human and ecological benefits of these reconnection projects. Our interdisciplinary team has created mapping and decision-support products that: 1) identify opportunities for restored riparian wetlands and river/floodplain reconnection projects, 2) quantify the effectiveness of interventions to improve connectivity and function, and 3) prioritize these projects and practices by engaging stakeholders and the public. This work leverages a database of stream geomorphic assessment data for more than 2,300 miles of river, collected over the last 15 years, and on-going floodplain monitoring efforts to quantify nutrient retention. Recently available state-wide, high-resolution lidar and land cover data have also enabled low-complexity hydraulic modeling. Future work will build a web-based tool to prioritize and visualize implemented reconnection projects and track progress towards achieving Lake Champlain phosphorus reduction targets and naturalizing the river-floodplain interactions to reduce flood and erosion risks.