Summary of Memorandum of Understanding Between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

April 2000

Purpose: The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) spells out ways that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) plan to expand their activities to work together to help communities take steps to become more disaster resistant and sustainable in advance of a natural disaster, such as a flood, hurricane, earthquake, or wildfire.

The MOU expands and enhances the working relationship between FEMA and NRCS. It seeks to use the NRCS community-based network of natural resource conservation expertise, practices, and programs in a partnership effort to help communities reduce their vulnerability to natural hazard events. The agreement is in support of FEMA's Project Impact, which helps communities take steps to become more disaster resistant and sustainable in advance of a natural disaster.

Experience has shown that lives can be saved, damage to property reduced significantly, and economic recovery after a disaster accelerated by consistently implementing natural resource conservation measures, building safer and stronger buildings, enforcing building codes, and making sound choices in community planning. Overall, Project Impact (mitigation investments) efforts are designed to improve the economic structure, stability, and sustainability of local communities.

Event: Signing ceremony on April 14, 2000, in Cheyenne, Oklahoma, by Mike Armstrong, FEMA Associate Director for Mitigation, and Pearlie S. Reed, NRCS Chief.

The signing will take place during the Sergeant Major Watershed Dedication, celebrating the nation's first upstream flood control rehabilitation project. The pilot project has extended the flood control benefits of a 50-year-old dam for another 100 years (for further information, see section on Sergeant Major Celebration).

Details: The agreement provides for coordination, technical assistance and planning support, field operations, creative use of existing resources and the development of new funding sources, public outreach and education, and training between the two agencies. It describes specific activities to be done through a cooperative pilot proposal to help at least two communities identify flood risks related to aging small flood control dams and to implement measures designed to reduce or eliminate these risks. And, it describes specific activities to help communities become more disaster resistant, using six current NRCS programs: Small Watershed Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, and those for Resource Conservation and Development, Emergency Watershed Protection, Watershed Surveys and Planning, and Conservation Technical Assistance.

About the Agencies:

FEMA is an executive agency that serves as a single point of contact within the Federal government for emergency management activities. It is dedicated to establishing and maintaining a comprehensive and coordinated emergency management program designed to support State and local governments in mitigating, planning, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from the effects of emergencies, disasters, and hazards of all types.

NRCS is the lead agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture for providing conservation technical assistance to owners and operators of private lands. Most NRCS employees serve in USDA's network of local, county-based offices. NRCS works closely with the Nation's 3,000 conservation districts, which are units of local government, organized by citizens under State law, that operate on the premise that local people know the most about local needs. Conservation districts link NRCS with their neighbors and with local priorities for conservation of natural resources.

Sergeant Major Celebration: The Sergeant Major Creek Celebration marks the nation's first rehabilitation project growing out of concern of the nation's aging dams in upstream areas. The Sergeant Major Creek Watershed is part of the Washita River Flood Control Project, one of eleven projects authorized by Public Law 534, the Flood Control Act of 1944. During the past 50 years, 1,143 small flood control dams were constructed in the Washita River Flood Control Project. The results are an excellent example of the benefits of communities taking steps to become disaster resistant. Prior to 1950, devastating floods occurred almost annually in the Washita River Watershed. They have been drastically reduced or eliminated as a result of this flood control project. By rehabilitating these aging dams, the flood control benefits will continue to be enjoyed for another 100 years. Communities working in cooperation with local conservation districts, NRCS, and FEMA will protect natural resources and the people in the communities.

U.S. Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Washington, D.C.

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