Adaptation Strategies for Rural and Small Communities
This tab includes strategies, best practices, and legal and policy analysis relevant to adaptation efforts in rural and small communities.
Resources are automatically presented by rating, but can be sorted by date or title. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by resource type, impact, jurisdictional focus, state, or region.
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Resource
March 17, 2008
In May 2006, the Alaska Legislature adopted House Concurrent Resolution 30, creating an Alaska Climate Impact Commission. The Commission was charged with assessing the impacts and costs of climate change to Alaska and developing recommendations for preventative measures potentially implemented by Alaskan communities and governments. The eleven-member commission released their final report in March 2008
Related Organizations: Joint Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission
Resource Category: Assessments
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In 2017, the Town of Princeville, North Carolina engaged experts and communities in a long-term, comprehensive planning process to annex a 53-acre parcel of land located outside of the town’s 100-year floodplain to develop a safer, higher ground area where residents, structures, and infrastructure can be relocated. After experiencing flooding impacts from Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Princeville was selected as one of six municipalities in North Carolina to receive technical and funding support from the state through the Hurricane Matthew Disaster Recovery and Resilience Initiative. Princeville provides an example for other municipalities either in a pre-or post-disaster context for how to balance the preservation of original townships while dealing with flooding vulnerabilities, while increasing the resiliency of core community assets and services through adaptation actions. As done in Princeville, local governments may consider options for relocating vulnerable residences and community facilities and services, including by annexing new land where sufficient higher ground land within existing municipal boundaries is not available to reallocate critical land uses and maintain local communities, tax bases, and economies.
Related Organizations: Town of Princeville, North Carolina
Resource Category: Solutions
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October 2010
In response to climate change and other factors that increase competition and reduce availability of water in Arizona, Western Resource Advocates' Arizona Water Meter report highlights the water conservation programs of 15 diverse Arizona communities and evaluates their programs by seven important water conservation criteria: 1) minimizing per capita water use; 2) water rate structures that encourage wise water use; 3) community-based water conservation programs; 4) conservation ordinances; 5) funding for conservation programs; 6) stemming system water loss; and 7) effluent reuse.
Related Organizations: Western Resource Advocates (WRA)
Resource Category: Solutions
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July 25, 2020
The Florida Keys Community Land Trust (CLT) demonstrates how land trusts can deliver resilient affordable housing options in disaster-affected areas. The Florida Keys, a 125-mile long chain of islands off the southern tip of Florida in Monroe County, were devastated in 2017 by Hurricane Irma. Irma made landfall at Cudjoe Key as a Category 4 hurricane and its sustained winds of 132 mph and 8-foot storm surge devastated homes, businesses, and infrastructure in the Lower and Middle Keys. Twenty-five percent of the homes in the Florida Keys were damaged or destroyed by the storm, with disproportionate impacts on manufactured homes that made up the bulk of affordable housing in the County.
Related Organizations: Florida Keys Community Land Trust
Author or Affiliated User: Jessica Grannis
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
June 2019
This report was conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Harvard University to explore the connection between climate adaptation and resilience and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which encourages banks to invest in and address the credit needs of low- and moderate-income areas and underserved rural areas. The CRA was enacted in 1977 and, according to the Federal Reserve, “requires the Federal Reserve and other federal banking regulators to encourage financial institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they do business, including low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods.
Related Organizations: Harvard University, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Authors or Affiliated Users: Jesse Keenan , Elizabeth Mattiuzzi
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
February 2014
In collaboration with the U. S. Forest Service and California Landscape Conservation Cooperative (CA LCC), EcoAdapt has identified a suite of priority climate change adaptation strategies for focal ecosystems and wildlife species of the Sierra Nevada region of California including: Alpine and Subalpine Systems, Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs, Yellow Pine/Mixed Conifer Systems, Red Fir Systems and Marten, Wet Meadows and Fens, and Oak Woodlands. After a vulnerability assessment process, draft implementation plans were developed for each of the focal resources, incorporating the priority adaptation actions.
Related Organizations: EcoAdapt , Department of the Interior (DOI): California Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC)
Resource Category: Solutions
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January 2016
The Rutgers Climate Institute put together this fact sheet to provide a brief and accessible summary of the impacts of climate change on agriculture in New Jersey, which includes climate effects that will impact crops, livestock, aquaculture, and fisheries. It explores the primary climate change risks to agriculture and fisheries in the state, and provides short summaries on how these sectors can both adapt to climate risks and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Related Organizations: Rutgers University, U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
Resource Category: Planning
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August 2, 2012
This article examines legal strategies to help state and local governments reconcile these governance challenges when adapting to sea level rise (SLR). In the context of Connecticut state law, this article examines how land use regulations can be used to ensure that coastal development is more resilient to SLR impacts and less harmful to coastal ecosystems.
Related Organizations: National Sea Grant Law Center
Authors or Affiliated Users: Jessica Grannis , Julia Wyman, Meagan Singer, Jena Shoaf, Colin Lynch
Resource Category: Solutions
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October 2014
This report from the Union of Concerned Scientists describes the threat of tidal flooding in the East Coast and Gulf regions and offers steps that communities can take to adapt. The report makes the case that tidal flooding, currently just considered a nuisance, could become a daily or weekly occurrence, redefining how and where people along the coast “live, work, play, and move through their daily lives. " Data was collected in 52 locations to provide projections for sea level rise and tidal flooding in the region until 2045.
Related Organizations: Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Authors or Affiliated Users: Erika Spanger-Siegfried, Melanie Fitzpatrick, Kristina Dahl
Resource Category: Solutions
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January 2013
This document provides information for communities and local decision-makers to identify and evaluate a range of potential mitigation actions for reducing risk to natural hazards and disasters. The mitigation actions are categorized into four types for each of the hazards discussed:
Related Organizations: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Resource Category: Solutions
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