New efforts to coordinate across flood, farm and fish interests in Puget Sound’s floodplains have the potential to dramatically increase the pace and effectiveness of restoration efforts while also bringing about economic and social benefits in the region. Yet rivers are also a focal point of climate change impacts — affected by declining snowpack, heavier rain events, rising sea levels and a host of other changes. Current efforts to address climate change are piecemeal, lack coordination and continue to be stymied by a lack of capacity and resources for stakeholders.

Additionally, previous work to address climate change impacts in floodplains has focused on just one aspect of climate vulnerability: exposure. Exposure quantifies projected changes for a specific impact. This project aims to address these issues by taking a more holistic approach to studying vulnerability, and by working directly with decision makers to synthesize knowledge and priorities. This work will build off of previous work accomplished with the Floodplains for the Future partnership in Pierce County.

The goals of this work are to support collaboration among different floodplain interests on climate-resilient planning by (1) highlighting shared vulnerabilities, (2) increasing capacity and understanding on climate adaptation, and (3) identifying opportunities to leverage funds among interests. To do this we are conducting a series of interviews with key floodplain stakeholders in each watershed in order to better understand concerns, potential solutions, and the associated research and capacity needs. In each watershed we will host a workshop to summarize our findings and come up with a set of priorities for near-term efforts to increase the resilience of integrated floodplain management and planning efforts.

Check out the links for each of these resources below.

Supporting Floodplains for the Future (FFtF) Capital Projects. Working alongside the FFtF Partnership, the UW Climate Impacts Group aims to ensure their plans account for and respond to the anticipated effects of climate change. To do this we are working with the Partnership to synthesize existing climate change information, identify gaps in the science and support new work to address key gaps.

Integrating Climate Resilience in Flood Risk Management. We worked with the Washington State Silver Jackets – an interagency group that includes FEMA, the Army Corps, and several state and federal agencies charged with managing flood risk – to explore how they and their member agencies can better integrate climate change impacts into flood risk management in Washington State.

Effect of Climate Change on Flooding in King County Rivers. We used the new projections to model changes in future streamflow and evaluate potential changes in peak flows on the Snoqualmie, South Fork (SF) Skykomish, and Green rivers.

Climate Change & Flooding in Snohomish County. We produced new projections of future streamflow, with a particular emphasis on flooding, for the Snohomish and Stillaguamish Rivers. Funded by Snohomish County, these new results will support the County’s efforts to incorporate climate change impacts in floodplain management decisions.