By: Eric Fisher

LONGMEADOW, Mass. (abc40) -- Floods can be some of the most damaging natural disasters on this planet, and are not foreign to New England. A national organization thinks that preservation may play a key role in preventing some of the biggest flood events.

The Nature Convervancy is a group that specializes in convervation and preservation across the United States, and are landowners of several parcels in Massachusetts. They're currently doing work along the Connecticut River, to study how floodplain forests may help protect us from damaging floods.

Floodplain Ecologist Christian Marks has been visiting 40 different spots along the river to learn more about the trees and plants that live there. He realizes that these specific and rare habitats aren't always on peoples' minds.

"We don't think about them a lot of the time, but when we do need them it's very important," says Marks.

His team works along different elevations along the river, and studies the vegetation that grows there. By doing this, they can figure out where floodplain vegetation naturally lives, and where more alpine species take over. Marks and the Conservancy are suggesting that this line can be determined to be the "natural" line to which the river should be allowed to flood.

"The question we're trying to answer is, how much flooding does a floodplain need," says Marks.

They say this is important because manmade flood control can do more bad than good at times.

"We're actually making ourselves more vulnerable to the big floods," says Marks.

Picture a large flood with rapidly flowing water. It's tough to slow down, and the dams along the river can help control the water. But forests can as well.

"The trees slow that rushing water down, and they cause all those the water is carrying to drop out," says Kim Lutz, also of the Nature Conservancy.

What the group hopes to achieve is to find a fine balance between natural and manmade flood controls. Once they determine what they believe may be the proper amount of flooding to allow, they'll meet with the Army Corps of Engineers to share their findings. It's believed that by allowing some of the smaller floods to occur, we may better protect ourselves against the big ones.

The Connecticut River is New England's largest river, and has had historic floods in 1938, 55', and 86' and 2005, among others.