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He also suggested that the CRS is misunderstood and underutilized for education; so are the field staff of Insurance Service Officers. He supported an earlier recommendation on LOMAs and LOMR-Fs; wise use of the floodplain does not include making the floodplain smaller. He also stressed that FEMA needs to move away from the one-track mitigation emphasis on acquisition. FEMA would get more "return" for its funding by "buying" good floodplain management plans or hazard mitigation plans. Larry Larson, Executive Director, Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) Mr. Larson indicated that many of his comments were derived from the publication National Flood Programs in Review-2000, which was presented at the national ASFPM meeting in Austin in June 2000. This paper and another on the history of floodplain management will be available on the ASFPM Web site (www.floods.org). He indicated that the report focuses on two main areas: . Changing standards with the times. The most important policy shift is to one where floodplain development causes no negative impact; all other standards changes would derive from that premise. . Programs within FEMA, and elsewhere in the Federal Government, need to be examined and better coordinated on both the policy and staff levels. Michael Buchert, Assistant Public Works Director, City of Tulsa Mr. Buchert pointed out that Tulsa has a very active Project Impact and CRS program and therefore has the lowest flood insurance rate in the country. He related many of the city's accomplishments but expressed concern that for all the mitigation actions the city has taken and standards that it has enacted and enforced, Tulsa does not get sufficient CRS point credits. He also pointed out that in a recent flood event, the city was denied Federal disaster status because it had been too successful at selling flood insurance. Thomas H. Yorke, Chief, Office of Surface Water, u.s. Geological Survey Mr. Yorke based his comments on the premise that if flood hazard identification can be improved, floodplain management can be more effective. The two key elements are more accurate flood information and tools to display the information to the public in an understandable way. The USGS strearngaging network has been the basis for much of the flood information that has been used in the development of FIRMs. A recent study, A New Evaluation of the USGS Streamgaging Network, Report to Congress 1998, indicated that the number of communities with accurate flood information peaked in about 1950 and has been diminishing ever since. He also pointed out that the available flood data are only a fraction of the historical continuum of flooding. Floodplain Management Forum 26