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This report explores the value of floodplains and attempts to explain how the nation's rivers and floodplains have become physically disconnected, leading to loss of floodplain functions. With federal agencies now incorporating the value of natural infrastructure, or ecosystem services, into federal planning and decision-making, there are opportunities as never before to examine and change the disincentives for floodplain conservation.
Agencies have taken steps towards supporting nonstructural mitigation projects and higher regulatory standards, but this support is not uniformly reflected in federal regulatory policy. This report investigates whether current federal policy is structured to prevent future flood damage or if incentives are leading to further floodplain development.