In April 2016 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) delivered a Biological Opinion (BiOp) to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) determining that the implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in Oregon encouraged development in floodplains that harmed endangered salmon and that modifications would need to be made to the Program to limit development in floodplains.

After the release of the BiOp, a series of meetings were held with Oregon officials and communities to discuss how the BiOp should be implemented. Several organizations, including OAR, filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the implementation of the BiOp. The issue was put on hold as Congress passed a three-year delay in implementation.

The three-year delay is up next year, and federal and state agencies are now resuming discussions on this issue. There is a webinar for stakeholders on this topic on March 20, 2020 from 10am until 11:30am. To register for the webinar, and/or to get more information on this issue, please visit https://oregonnfip.org/.

OAR will continue to monitor this situation and consider appropriate actions moving forward.