Cedar Rapids Today

Ahead of the 15-year anniversary of the historic 2008 flood, Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, introduced a bipartisan bill to improve flood and drought mitigation through existing federal conservation programs.

Introduced along with Democratic Illinois U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, of Moline, the bill seeks to provide communities with resources to protect against flooding, by amending the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program to support practices that mitigate the effect of flooding and drought, or improve and expand flood resiliency.

Established in the 2014 Farm Bill, the program facilitates partnerships among the Natural Resources Conservation Service and local government or private entities to pay for conservation projects and practices. The partnership program provides grants to communities to work with agricultural producers to support the development of new conservation structures and approaches that aim to address natural resource concerns such as soil quality, water quality or wildlife conservation.

Flooding and drought are major challenges for American agriculture, Hinson told reporters Friday. Conservation practices, she said, are a critical component of efforts to mitigate risks associated with flooding. None of the five major USDA conservation programs, though, specifically mention flood prevention or mitigation.

Hinson said elevating flooding as a natural resource concern within RCCP ensures flood mitigation, prevention and resiliency become a long-term priority for the program in helping communities secure resources protect themselves from flooding.

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Brandon Renz, senior government relations director at the American Flood Coalition Action, in a statement, said the legislation will enhance flood resilience among agricultural communities.

"By explicitly adding flood prevention as a purpose of the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, the bill offers greater flexibility and support for partners to address regional flooding challenges together,“ Renz said.

Read the full article by Tom Barton in The Gazette HERE.

Original source can be found here.