The Lost History of Managed Retreat and Community Relocation in the United States
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Pinter, N. 2021.The lost history of managed retreat and community relocation in the United States. Elem Sci Anth,9:1.DOI:https:// doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00036 RESEARCH ARTICLE The lost history of managed retreat and community relocation in the United States Nicholas Pinter1,* Managed retreat refers to the relocation of population or infrastructure to address sea-level rise, climate- driven flood risk, and other threats. One variety of managed retreats involves the wholesale relocation of communities. The focus of retreat and relocation projects is to make the retreating communities more Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/9/1/00036/478412/elementa.2021.00036.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 resilient to future losses; add-on benefits may include environmental enhancement and broad potential social goals such as promoting equity. Facing spiraling flooding and other climate-change impacts, the United States has been planning and implementing new retreat projects, but without full awareness of past relocations. This study reviews more than 50 relevant community relocations in U.S. history. These endeavors represent millions of taxpayer dollars and enormous investment of personal effort, leadership, triumph, and frustration by residents. And these case studies represent real-world, context-specific expertise needed to guide future U.S. retreat and relocations efforts. This study reviews U.S. relocation history as a resource for scholars of managed retreat, disaster management professionals, and local stakeholders contemplating retreat. Keywords: Managed retreat, Community relocation, Climate change, Adaptation, Migration, Disaster mitigation, Disaster planning Introduction Managed retreat away from other hazards such as wildfire Managed retreat refers to the abandonment of occupied has also been discussed (Mach and Siders, 2021). The goal land and the removal or relocation of population and/or of retreat and relocation is to mitigate the proximal threat infrastructure out of areas subject to repeated flooding, in a “managed” fashion—that is, to be planned, strategic, rising sea level, or other natural hazards (e.g., Hino et al., and conscious of synergistic issues such as preserving social 2017; Siders et al., 2019; Government Accountability Office capital, equity, serving social justice, and maximizing envi- [GAO], 2020). Synonymous terms include “planned re- ronmental synergies. location,” “managed realignment,” “climate migration,” and One specific variety of managed retreat—and a focus of increasingly, “climigration” (Bronen, 2009; cited in Hamil- this study—involves the wholesale relocation of entire ton et al., 2016). Retreat is increasingly being discussed as towns, villages, or other social or political units. Commu- an alternative to the current de facto strategy, which nity relocation involves additional challenges as well as focuses on engineering protections and rebuilding in place potential holistic benefits over piecemeal buyouts or just after successive disasters (Scott and Lennon, 2020). Trends removal from at-risk locations. Wholesale relocation offers in climate-change impacts suggest impending inundation a potential mechanism to eliminate flood risk, or other that may compel, among other adaptations, large-scale re- hazards, while maintaining and transplanting intact the treats from at-risk coastlines and river floodplains. For social fabric of the community. With some predictions of example, Dottori et al. (2018) predict that flood damages waves of climate-driven migrants in the medium-term globally may increase 160%–240% and flood fatalities by future, many researchers and policy makers are now stres- 70%–83% by 2100, even under a modest þ1.5Cclimate sing the need to create actionable frameworks, plans, and scenario. In the United States, also by 2100, nearly 500 tool kits for expanded and perhaps large-scale relocations coastal communities (Dahl et al., 2017) and 4.2 million in the future. Recently, the U.S. GAO (2020) reported on residents (Hauer et al., 2016) may face disruptive inunda- past community relocations in the United States—“GAO tion in response to conservative predictions of sea-level rise. identified few communities in the United States that have considered climate migration as a resilience strategy, and [just] two ...that moved forward with relocation.” GAO 1 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Center for Watershed Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, and others seem to be unaware of the much deeper U.S. USA history of retreat and relocation solutions, including tan- * Corresponding author: gible experience, hard-won lessons learned, and living Email: [email protected] expertise in planning and implementing such projects. Art. 9(1) page 2 of 22 Pinter: Lost History of US Managed Retreat and Community Relocation Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/9/1/00036/478412/elementa.2021.00036.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 Figure 1. Managed retreat and wholesale community relocation in the U.S. span at least 140 years and include at least 50 relevant case studies (Key: Table 1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00036.f1 The goal of this article is to review this “lost history” of twice (Carter, 1991). The town was first settled in 1856 at managed retreat in the United States, including all known the confluence of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers, serv- cases of complete or significant partial relocation identi- ing as a frontier sawmill and steamboat port along Mis- fied to date (Figure 1; Table 1). The focus here is reloca- souri. The population grew to 475 at the time of the 1880 tion due to inundation and related hazards along rivers Census (although Carter, 1991 cites 850 residents), with 3 and coastlines. The Discussion section of the article places general stores, 2 drug stores, 2 hardware stores, a harness flood-related relocation into a broader typology of popu- shop,2blacksmiths,5hotels,3physicians,aschool, lation migration and hazard mitigation and introduces a church, and 2 newspapers. However, in late March examples of relocation due to other drivers, both in the 1881, an ice dam formed on the Missouri River impound- United States and worldwide. The empirical focus of this ing the river’s flow and inundating the floodplain for a dis- review emphasizes the importance of real-world, context- tance of approximately 160 km (100 miles) upstream specific experience with managed retreat, with practical (New York Times, 1881). Niobrara was flooded to a depth lessons for future retreat projects. of approximately 2 m (approximately 6 ft; Carter, 1991). In the flood’s aftermath, and following intense local debate, The early history: Managed retreat before 1993 residents elected to move to a new site 2.4 km (approxi- Although “Managed Retreat” is a new concept in scientific mately 1.5 miles) away and on higher ground. By late April and policy discussions, flooding has been threatening U.S. 1881, buildings were being jacked up and dragged by communities throughout the history of the nation. The horse teams uphill to the new town site (Figure 2); by political, economic, legal, and social contexts of disaster January 1882, most homes and all of the town’s commer- response have changed dramatically over this time. For cial structures were already in place (Carter, 1991). example, until the 1920s, disaster response was not con- The 1881 relocation of Niobrara raised the town above sidered to be part of the role of the U.S. federal govern- several subsequent floods. But the construction of Gavins ment, and both response and recovery were largely Point Dam in 1957, about 50 km downstream of Niobrara, managed by local and state authorities, by private groups impounded Lewis and Clark Lake. The Niobrara River is such as the Red Cross, and left in significant part to the one of the major sources of sediment along this stretch of flood victims themselves. However, through that early his- Missouri. Between 1957 and today, the accumulation of tory, some flood disasters were severe enough to spur approximately 5.1 tonnes/year of sediment has trans- dramatic remedies, including several cases of wholesale formed the upstream portions of Lewis and Clark Lake community relocations off floodplains. into a sand-choked delta. This accumulation raised the water table beneath Niobrara and gradually inundating Niobrara, Nebraska the town from below (Vecsey, 1971; Carter, 1991). In Niobrara has a twofold distinction: (1) as the earliest well- 1971, 90% of Niobrara residents voted to accept an Army documented example of U.S. community relocation for Corps of Engineers plan to transplant the town to a new flood mitigation and (2) for retreating from the floodplain site still higher above the river (Sterba, 1974). The Corps Pinter: Lost History of US Managed Retreat and Community Relocation Art. 9(1) page 3 of 22 Table 1. Examples of flood-related community relocation and related case studies in U.S. history. DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.1525/elementa.2021.00036.t1 Date of Flood, Preflood Recent Town Action and so ona Population Population Hazard 1 Niobrara, NE Wholesale 1881; 1969 475; 736 293 Flooding/ relocation groundwater 2 Shawneetown, IL Wholesale 1937 1,440 1249 Flood/levee breach relocation 3 Leavenworth, IN Wholesale 1937 420 328 Flooding relocation 4 Klamath, CA Wholesale 1964 Unknown 779 Flooding relocation Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/9/1/00036/478412/elementa.2021.00036.pdf by guest