December 2019. We're bringing Missoula's first Climate Resiliency Plan forward. Over the past 18 months and together with our Steering Committee and community help, we've developed a Climate and Community Primer, crafted a Vulnerability Assessment, and generated resilience goals and strategies to address our vulnerabilities given climate change. We're finalizing the plan and building a whole new website. We'll formally release this plan for further public input and ultimate adoption at the January 13, 2020 City Club event. Stay tuned. We'll need everyone!
What is Climate Ready Missoula?Over the past 18 months, Missoula County, Climate Smart Missoula, and the City of Missoula have been jointly leading a climate resiliency planning process called Climate Ready Missoula: Building Resiliency in Missoula County. Climate change impacts involve all sectors of our community, so the planning process engaged in a diverse range of stakeholders. This effort generally follows the guidelines of the Climate Ready Communities program developed by the Geos Institute. This is not the first time that climate adaptation has been considered in Missoula County; indeed, numerous local efforts have addressed this topic either directly or indirectly. The goal of this process is to build from those efforts in a comprehensive and inclusive manner.
Why is this effort important?While climate change is a global challenge, its impacts are experienced at the local level, and it falls to local communities to address them. We are already experiencing the impacts of climate change in Missoula County, and those impacts are projected to intensify over the coming decades and to touch every sector of our county. Changes are likely to include reduced low elevation snowpack, earlier spring snowmelt, more frequent and intense droughts and wildfires, and impacts to agriculture and recreation. The earlier that we understand and prepare for these changes, the greater our chances of mitigating their impacts on human health and safety, the natural environment, and our local economy.
Together with our steering committee, we have developed a Climate and Community Primer, written a Vulnerability Assessment, and generated resilience goals and strategies to address our vulnerabilities given climate change. |
This project has been co-led by Missoula County, Climate Smart Missoula, and the City of Missoula
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Our Team
Climate Ready Communities Project Leads
Diana Maneta, Missoula County
Amy Cilimburg, Climate Smart Missoula
Caroline Lauer, Climate Smart Missoula
Chase Jones,City of Missoula
The Project Leads work closely with an Advisory Team which includes the leads and University of Montana faculty and researchers Dr. Laurie Yung, Dr. Carina Wyborn, and Dr. Nick Silverman
Diana Maneta, Missoula County
Amy Cilimburg, Climate Smart Missoula
Caroline Lauer, Climate Smart Missoula
Chase Jones,City of Missoula
The Project Leads work closely with an Advisory Team which includes the leads and University of Montana faculty and researchers Dr. Laurie Yung, Dr. Carina Wyborn, and Dr. Nick Silverman
Primer
What will climate change look like in Missoula County?
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Vulnerability Assessment
What vulnerabilities does climate change create in Missoula County?
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Goals + Actions
What can we do to address our vulnerabilities?
Where We've Been and Where We're Going:
We've been hard at work refining the goals and action items that were developed over the course of the second adaptation workshop, and we're in the midst of preparing the full plan for public feedback as well as developing an online accompaniment for the written plan. Stay tuned for the release of the plan in mid-January 2020!
If you would like to be on our list to be alerted about future events, please sign up here.
If you would like to be on our list to be alerted about future events, please sign up here.
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Climate Ready Communities Steering Committee Members
Adriane Beck, Missoula County Office of Emergency Management Bonnie Buckingham, Community Food and Agriculture Coalition Bryce Christiaens, Missoula County Weed District Donna Gaukler, City of Missoula Parks and Recreation Heather Harp, Missoula City Council Paul Herendeen, Missoula Federal Credit Union Karen Hughes, Missoula County Community and Planning Services Gwen Lankford, Sapphire Strategies, Inc. Alex Leone, Clark Fork Coalition Laval Means, City of Missoula Development Services Eran Pehan, City of Missoula Housing and Community Development Nick Silverman, Adaptive Hydrology LLC Dave Strohmaier, Missoula County Commission Shannon Therriault, Missoula City-County Health Department Laurie Yung, University of Montana |
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