Accelerating Natural Flood Management in the Lake Superior Basin

Recipient: Northwest Regional Planning Commission
Funding Amount: $1,451,065

The project site is an area hit hard by catastrophic, repetitive flooding (six federal disaster declarations between 2012 and 2022) affecting local communities and an extensive network of state, local, and tribally managed roads. Funding will be used to 1) identify how the loss of headwater wetland storage and floodplain connectivity is contributing to the flooding problem; and 2) implement high-impact, nature-based solutions to combat this flooding by restoring the natural hydrology. The project is led by the Northwest Regional Planning Commission, a cooperative of local governments and tribal communities. Road maintenance responsibilities stretch across three states, six counties, five cities, one village, 33 towns, and two tribes. The root causes of flooding and potential restoration opportunities will be investigated using new approaches that integrate spatial and field-based assessments.

For more information on the grant program funding this project, please visit the Inflation Reduction Act webpage. For more information on the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, visit the Office for Coastal Management’s resilience challenge webpage.