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goals, and from Congressional direction that yields diffusion of responsibility among levels of government and agencies that results in uncoordinated, fragmented, inconsistent, and duplicative efforts, gaps in program delivery, and missed opportunities, The Unified National Program was recently reshaped by professionals with the ability to direct a limited nwnber of meagerly funded programs, but without sufficient authority to bring about widespread policy change. If its goals are to be met, the Unified National Program must be elevated within the Administration, · A water resources coordinating mechanism needs to be re-established at a high level within the federal government It could include responsibility for the Unified National Program for Floodplain Management, and have oversight to ensure that all federal policies and programs are supportive of the National Flood Insurance Program, Upgraded Executive Orders or other measures are needed; they should tie flood disaster relief and other federal funds to a community's participation in and compliance with the National Flood Insurance Program, as well as to the maintenance of flood insurance, · Another alternative would be to assign responsibility for the Unified National Program to the Office of Domestic Policy in the White House, where there could be executive management by senior administration officials, with existing agency staff developing policy regarding the work products. · A National Floodplain Management Policy should be established. It should include a national riparian zone policy of protecting, maintaining, and restoring riverine areas in order to preserve them as sustainable ecosystems for future generations. Buffer zones along rivers, streams, and smaller waterways need to be encouraged. The Continuous Conservation Reserve Program could be converted to a permanent nationwide easement program for riparian buffers, Emphasis should be placed on maintaining the natural flood storage capacity within all watersheds. · A coordinated, watershed-based, multi-objective approach for all water resource activities must be adopted, It should include coordination with water quality improvement efforts, the creation and maintenance of upland storage, and coordinated planning among upstream, downstream, rural, and urbanized localities within the same watershed, There remains a need for a comprehensive assessment of the effects of various policies and programs on both quantity and quality of floodplain occupance, Such an evaluation has been missing for a long time, It is easy to point to specific outcomes of limited policies or programs, but still lack careful appraisal of the full array of policies and programs on entire communities, Until that is done, any broad evaluations will be incomplete and perhaps misleading. An integrated and comprehensive approach would allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to diagnose and prescribe modifications for Congressional and administrative changes that will benefit the nation's taxpayers, those who are at risk to flooding, and those who will purchase land and structures that may be at risk. It should be remembered that the drafters of House Docwnent 465, which culminated in the creation of the National Flood Insurance Program, warned that any new program-like the national flood insurance effort they were then proposing-should be tested in sample areas before widespread implementation, That preliminary testing was never done, Thus, 30 years later, we are deeply committed to a course of action that was never proven to be a permanent solution to the nation's flood problems. Association of State Floodplain Managers -34- National Flood Programs in Review 2000