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<br />C. Reinforce the importance of public safety issues to communities and citizens. <br />Floodplain management is not just a land use and development issue; it is also a public <br />health and safety issue. <br /> <br />6. Better educate communities on the benefits of sustainable development, the natural and <br />beneficial functions of floodplains, and the ramifications of unwise land use decisions. <br /> <br />A. Improve the marketing of success stories. Many States and communities across the <br />country are implementing innovative initiatives that are successfully reducing flood risks <br />and protecting floodplains. We must do a better job of promoting our successes and <br />marketing a message of sustain ability, livability, and the benefits of floodplain <br />management. <br /> <br />B. Educate communities to exceed minimum NFIP requirements. Although the NFIP has <br />done an excellent job of providing minimum requirements for development in <br />floodplains, unfortunately these general standards fall short of what is needed for the <br />management of floodplains. FEMA should initiate a program to educate communities <br />on the limitations of minimum NFIP requirements and encourage States and <br />communities to develop policies and standards that would reduce or eliminate flood <br />impacts caused by floodplain development. <br /> <br />C. Better educate citizens and communities on the link between floodplain management <br />and the economic vitality and environmental quality of a community. <br /> <br />D. Educate government officials, businesses, legislators, and individual citizens about their <br />responsibility for their land use decisions. These groups must be more accountable for <br />their actions, begin to assume their fair share of the risk, and not rely solely on the <br />Federal Government to bail them out following a disaster. <br /> <br />E. Public involvement in floodplain management must go beyond the education of public <br />officials and citizenry to include meaningful public involvement during the <br />decisionmaking process so that there is local buy-in for the adopted policies. <br /> <br />F. Provide outreach and education to citizens and officials in the post-disaster environment <br />on the natural and beneficial functions of floodplains. <br /> <br />G. Develop partnerships to provide educational programs in schools. An effective way to <br />educate parents is through their children. <br /> <br />7. Consider modifying the NFIP requirements to prohibit or at least discourage the <br />placement of fill in floodplains. <br /> <br />The placement of fill in the floodplain destroys valuable riparian areas and reallocates flood <br />storage from the fill site to other locations in the floodplain, thereby transferring the risk of <br />flooding to other parties without compensation. Current NFIP regulations allow the <br />placement of fill outside of the regulatory floodway until a I-foot increase in the BFE is <br /> <br />Floodplain Management Forum <br /> <br />9 <br />