Plan Integration for Ecological Resilience: Examining Factors Associated with Wetland Alteration.

This article examines the relationship between plan integration—measured by the Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard™ (PIRS)—and wetland loss in two coastal U.S. cities, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and League City, Texas. The study finds that wetland loss, which exacerbates flood damage, is significantly associated with the degree of integration in a community’s network of land use and hazard mitigation plans, as well as development intensity patterns. League City, a rapidly growing city with higher plan integration scores, experienced less wetland loss (11.04%) from 2006 to 2016 compared to the more built-out Fort Lauderdale (24.31%), suggesting that integrated planning may better protect wetlands in developing areas. The findings highlight that embedding wetland protection policies across multiple coordinated plans can enhance ecological resilience and flood hazard mitigation, though reactive policy adoption after wetland loss begins—termed the Land Use Management Paradox—may limit effectiveness. The study recommends early, proactive, and enforced integration of wetland conservation in urban planning networks to support resilient coastal communities.