BACKGROUND
Under the Grand Forks Flood Mitigation Program, the North Ruckle floodplain will need to be floodable to provide 'room for the river'. This means that the dike and all houses and most infrastructure will be removed, and that the land will flood in a similar way to City Park. It will likely get a little bit wet every couple of years, and become completely inundated every 5-10 years. It will also need to be able to be resilient to the same type of flood that happened in 2018.
Some areas will need to be restored to wetland, forest or fish habitat as compensation for the impacts of other parts of the Flood Mitigation Program on fish and wildlife habitat. Together, all of these characteristics are required to fulfill the grant commitment or satisfy regulatory requirements. However, there is also room for carefully designed community use of the new floodplain.
The North Ruckle Floodplain Restoration Charrette will draw on community, stakeholder and First Nations input and the expertise of ecologists, engineers, and landscape architects to develop the conceptual design for the floodplain, making 'room for the river' while providing a meaningful and significant community asset for the future.
