For many communities across America, flooding is an expensive, messy and heartbreaking problem. Over the past decade, floods have caused more than $25 billion in damage in America, destroyed homes and businesses and threatened water quality in our communities. And with 100-year floods and even 500-year floods happening with alarming regularity, we need new solutions to keep our communities clean and dry when the rains come.

The good news: We have some of those solutions.

Land Conservation As Natural Flood Management

While flooding can’t be prevented, it can be minimized. Did you know that a single acre of wetlands can hold 1 million gallons of floodwater? Conserving wetlands is a preservation strategy that has been used in areas from Massachusetts to Colorado because wetlands capture floodwater and release it slowly back into the surrounding environment. Similarly, forests, full of thirsty tree roots and topsoil, can suck up excess water that could otherwise overrun and damage land. At the Fund, we understand that protecting wetlands and forests has myriad benefits, including maintaining a natural landscape that can help curb flooding in communities.

Flood Management In Urban Areas

In urban areas, our strategy is to engineer “green infrastructure” into city settings, so that well-placed trees, grassy areas, water-draining pavement and other features channel and control rainwater. For many urban areas, these "green" features offer an inexpensive add-on to the deep tunnels, pipes and other gray infrastructure used to control stormwater. As cities endure more intense storms, the right infrastructure can prevent sewers from overflowing and threatening water quality.

Our Efforts

While protecting large landscapes and planning green infrastructure, we continue to forge new solutions to help communities protect their landscapes. Click on the links below to learn more about our efforts:

Nashville Naturally: Open Space Plan In Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is one city hit hard by flooding in recent years. Thanks to Mayor Karl Dean and the Land Trust for Tennessee, Nashville is on the forefront of a national trend to green urban areas. They chose the Fund to lead the development of an open space plan. The result? Nashville Naturally, the most progressive open space protection strategy in the Southeast.

Greenseams: Flood Management In Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Fund works with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District to implement the District’s Greenseams program, an ambitious initiative to conserve water and prevent flooding through land protection.

Greening The Crossroads: The Green Infrastructure Plan For Central Indiana

After central Indiana was hit by severe flooding in 2008, the Central Indiana Land Trust decided to develop a regional conservation vision with the Fund's help. In 2010, we designed a green infrastructure network that highlights more than 300,000 acres of land in need of protection.

Upper Ouchita National Wildlife Management Area, Louisiana

The Upper Ouachita is the site of the largest floodplain restoration project in the United States. Learn about our efforts to acquire land to add to the Upper Ouachita NWR and help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service restore forestland to the refuge.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland

The Fund has been working for more than two decades to help Blackwater NWR acquire and restore wetlands and forestland in an effort to deal with rising sea levels and continual flooding.

Reforestation At Marais Des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge

A Q & A with U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Tim Menard answers questions about our work at the Marais Des Cygnes NWR in Kansas and Missouri. The benefits of our Go Zero program's reforestation efforts here include stabilizing the top soil and slowing the rate of runoff, thereby helping to reduce effects of flooding along the Marais des Cygnes River.

Photo: Banksphoto/iStockphoto.com

A vibrant community has a healthy environment and a healthy economy. That’s why we work toward both goals, by helping communities strategically plan development, train leaders in conservation, apply the latest freshwater research and sustainably use natural resources.

Strategic Planning

By 2050, an estimated 85% of Americans will live in urban areas. As communities grow, leaders look to balance “gray” infrastructure—such as buildings and homes—with the “green” of parks and open space. We help community, government and business leaders strike this balance with strategic conservation planning.

Leadership Training

In every community, leaders bring different perspectives to conservation. Before they can agree on land use decisions, they need time—and the right environment —to collaborate. That’s what our Conservation Leadership Network provides, in more than 20
courses and workshops. This year, we’re hosting lead events on climate change and green infrastructure, as well as transportation.

Freshwater Research

Every community deserves plenty of clean water and good food. With that goal in mind, our Freshwater Institute performs water use and aquaculture research, combining engineering, biology and technology to help partners protect, reuse and restore freshwater resources and habitats. In one example, we’re helping restore a native eastern brook trout fishery in West Virginia’s Rockymarsh Run, as part of a larger initiative to restore the network of waters linked to the Chesapeake Bay.

Click here to learn more about Rockymarsh Run.

With more than 7 million acres protected across America, we work hard to save your favorite places before they become just a memory. From the park down the street, through forests and fields, and even past the water's edge, the American landscape connects us all. What happens 50 miles—or 500 miles—away impacts the quality of your air and water, the food you buy, the history or adventures you can experience and more. That's why conservation matters.

Here are some of the places we work to protect:

	Wild Havens Animals depend on wild havens for home, food and safe migration. We also rely on wild places for environmental benefits like clean water—and for the sheer joy of exploring our great outdoors.
	Historic Places American history begins outdoors, with the shores that greeted settlers, fields that witnessed battle and many places between—both famous and simply favorite—that mark our culture and community moments.
	Vibrant Communities A vibrant community has a healthy environment and a healthy economy. That's why we work toward both goals, by helping communities strategically plan development, train leaders in conservation and sustainably use natural resources.
	Working Lands: Forests, Farms & Ranches America's forests,farms and ranches define our horizon and our history. Did you know that 40 percent of America's land is used for agriculture? And forests cover about a third of the U.S. Coast to coast, generations have looked to these lands for food, jobs, family traditions and more. Today, we help keep "working" lands operating sustainably.