Statement Accompanying Executive Order 11988 Concerning Floodplain Management

The floodplains which adjoin the Nation's inland and coastal waters have long been recognized as having special values to our citizens. They have provided us with wildlife habitat, agricultural and forest products, stable ecosystems, and park and recreation areas. However, unwise use and development of our riverine, coastal, and other floodplains not only destroy many of the special qualities of these areas but pose a severe threat to human life, health, and property.

Since the adoption of a national flood control policy in 1936, the Federal Government has invested about $10 billion in flood protection works. Despite substantial efforts by the Federal Government to reduce flood hazards and protect floodplains, annual losses from floods and adverse alteration of floodplains continue to increase.

The problem arises mainly from unwise land use practices. The Federal Government can be responsible for or can influence these practices in the construction of projects, in the management of its own properties, in the provision of financial or technical assistance including support of financial institutions, and in the uses for which its agencies issue licenses or permits. In addition to minimizing the danger to human and nonhuman communities living in floodplains, active floodplain management represents sound business practice by reducing the risk of flood damage to properties benefiting from Federal assistance.

Because unwise floodplain development can lead to the loss of human and other natural resources, it is simply a bad Federal investment and should be avoided. In order to avoid to the extent possible the long- and short-term adverse impacts associated with the occupancy and modification of floodplains and to avoid direct or indirect support of floodplain development wherever there is a practicable alternative, I have issued an Executive order on floodplain management.