TITLE:
Addressing Soil Degradation and Flood Risk Decision Making in Levee Protected Agricultural Lands under Increasingly Variable Climate Conditions
AUTHORS:
Lois Wright Morton, Kenneth R. Olson
KEYWORDS:
Levee Breaching, Soil Damage, Climate Change, Agriculture, Stakeholder Values, Agroecosystem, Flooding
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.5 No.12,
September
24,
2014
ABSTRACT: Public
and private levee systems may not be robust enough to address flooding risk to
agriculture under changing climate conditions. Of concern are levee protected
riverine bottomlands with intensive agricultural uses and diminished wetland
systems that give resilience to floodplain hydrologic functions. In the United
States natural and induced levee breaching has caused soil damage, loss of
agricultural productivity, and public tension among agricultural landowners,
urban residents, and environmental interests. Risk management and adaptive
capacity of this humannatural system could be improved by assessments of 1)
soil damage and 2) stakeholder values, fears, and knowledge about the riverine
bottomland agroecosystem.