FLOOD01312

• County: Statewide
• Title: Multi-Objective Flood Mitigation Plan for Vermillion River Basin-South Dakota
• Date: 1/1/1994
• Prepared For: South Dakota
• Prepared By: FEMA
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Mitigation/Flood Warning/Watershed Restoration

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND

s U S T A I NAB I LIT Y, C U L T U R A LAN D HIS TOR I C
RES 0 U R C E S, AND H 0 U SIN G

INTROllUCTION
The disruptions in daily economic activi.
ties caused by flood damage are costly and
inconvenient to farms, businesses, and
individuals who live or work within the
Vermillion Basin. A strategy is needed to
minimize economic losses while encour-
aging development that is compatible with
the charader and environment of the Basin.
Violations of city and county floodplain
ordinances contribute to the I~ that dtizens
face. The lack of monitoring or training oflocal
floodplain managers by a stale floodplain man.
agement coordinator needs to be addressed.
The Basin's housing shortage was exac-
erbated by the 1993 flood. In some towns
there is little developable land outside the
floodplain. New flood-prone housing will be
a drain on both the economic sustainability of
the area and its housing stock in years to come.
The continuing safely, health, and welfare of
citizens needs to be ensured.
No extensive investigations of the his-
torical and cultural resources of the Vermil-
lion Basin have been conducted. But there is
little doubt that such a starch would reveal pre-
hislOric campsites, burial mounds., petroforms,
earth lodge villages, historic Sioux camp-
sites. numerous Euro-American homesteads.,

TEAM 2

abandoned railroads. and bridges. These aspects
of the Basin's heritage need to be presetVed,
and they also can provide the basis for recre-
ation and tourism.

As with many sparsely populated rural
areas, there is a lack of funds or tax base to
finance remedial measures for fll:X>ding and
other problems. or even to meet the match
requirements of state or federal programs.
This situation is made worse by the loss of
eco-nomic sustainability due to flooding of
agricultural lands.

ISSUE I

LOSS OF AGRICULTURAL PRO-
DUCTIVITY FROM FLOODING

'l A T hen agricultural operations suffer
V V financial losses because of flooding,
economies suffer, too. Agricultural productiv-
ity is lost or diminished when the soil is too
wet 10 plant, the roots of planted crops drown,
floodwatel1l wash away a crop. or a harvested
and Slored crop is washed away or roned.
The next C'ight solutions should be con-
sidered individually. The implementing agen-
cies and funding sources are the same for
each solution. and are listed after Potential
Solution I-H, below.

.

POTENTIAL SOLUTION I-A
Ac.quire agriculturalltmds that are most suscep-
tible to flooding./This action would also address
Lack of Uncultivated Publit Open Space; see
Solution J-A, page 33.1

POTENTIAl. SOLUTION I-B
Provide tax relief for lands voluntarily restored
to wetlands.

I' 01' E NT I A t. S OLUT I ON I-C
Re-examine property tax assessments on agri-
cultural land susceptible to floods.

POTENTIAl. SOLUTION I-n
Establish a Wt'tltuuls mitigation bank. [This
action would also address Loss of Habitat for
Wildlife; see Solution 2.B, page 30.1

POTENTIAL SOI.UTIOX t.l:
Construct check cmnrs in smtlller gullies in eroded
areas. [This adwTl would also address Flooding
in the Vermillion River valley; StY Solution 2-C,
page 16. It would address Flooding around Lake
Thompson; see Solution 3-A, page 18.11 would
address High Rates of Agritultural Runoff; see
Solution 1 -c, page 35.}