State DNRC presents early floodplain updates for Livingston; funding and levee certification will shape final maps

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation told the Livingston City Commission on July 15 that updated flood study work for Park County and the city of Livingston is largely complete but that the mapping process faces funding uncertainty and technical steps that will determine which properties are shown as being in the 100‑year floodplain.

Nadine Wadsworth, a state mapping specialist with DNRC, said the study team has finished lidar, hydrology and in‑stream survey work, and has delivered a flood‑history report and the hydrology used for engineer modeling. She said the maps shown to the commission reflect two different outcomes for areas behind the city’s levee: one “worst case” if the levee cannot be certified, and one if the city can certify the levee and the area is removed from Yellowstone River flooding.

"Anywhere you see that blue ... is considered the hundred year, that 1 percent annual chance," Wadsworth told the commission. She explained that properties in that blue zone would likely face lender requirements for federally backed flood insurance and would be subject to floodplain permitting if owners develop the property.

Why it matters

Wadsworth emphasized that levee certification is not automatic. "Ultimately, the responsibility of conducting a levee analysis and a certification is that of the owner of the levee," she said, meaning the city must complete additional technical work to demonstrate interior drainage and other requirements. If the city certifies the levee, some parcels now shown in the mapped floodplain could be removed only for Yellowstone River flooding; surface water from creeks such as Freshman (Fleishman) Creek or interior drainage behind the levee could still put parts of the same neighborhoods at risk.

The draft data shown to the commission identified new risk areas around Freshman (Fleishman) Creek and the hospital zone. Wadsworth said the contractor Michael Baker had already begun mitigation technical assistance — a “30,000‑foot view” report that lays out a menu of potential projects the city could pursue to reduce risk and to target grant funding. She noted two other Montana communities used similar technical assistance to assemble successful grant applications.

Funding and timeline

Wadsworth told commissioners the flood study advanced through hydraulics, but DNRC currently lacks federal grant awards to complete the next mapping and public‑outreach phases. She said draft mapping might be available "a year from now" if funding is secured and that the process from draft to FEMA‑effective maps could take up to three years; she also warned the community that if federal funding disappears, the new data would remain in DNRC files but would not become effective FEMA maps.

"If anything doesn't proceed forward, what we have for hydraulics that's done, I will make sure that the community has," she said, adding that communities could decide independently whether to regulate based on that data.

Grants and federal programs mentioned included FEMA mitigation streams. Wadsworth said the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program has changed and that Brownfield/Bric‑type grant availability has tightened; the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program remained an available option but is tied to National Flood Insurance Program goals.

Local implications and next steps

City staff and DNRC said levee certification will require the city to show how water that gets behind a levee would be drained (interior drainage) and to address any structures that function like levees without clear documentation. Wadsworth said DNRC will supply the data it has produced (lidar, hydrology and survey) and will post project materials on the DNRC project page.

DNRC recommended mitigation technical assistance for the hospital and Freshman Creek areas; that assistance will produce options the city can use to seek competitive grants. Wadsworth encouraged local officials to reach out to the federal delegation if the mapping grant cycle threatens to stop, and she warned that DNRC outreach staff funding is also grant‑supported and could be reduced.

Commissioners and members of the public asked for publicly accessible data and for the state to return with draft maps when they are ready. DNRC said it will post links on the state library and maintain a project page; DNRC and the city agreed to coordinate neighborhood outreach and public open‑house meetings when draft maps exist.

Ending

Commissioners acknowledged the difficulty of the technical questions and stressed the importance of local preparedness while the mapping proceeds. Wadsworth said the DNRC contractor will finish hydraulics and mitigation assistance to create grant‑ready options, but she cautioned that map effectiveness is contingent on federal funding and FEMA’s due‑process timeline.