Natural Hazards

Watch “Living with wildfire.” Wildfires are an inescapable and necessary function of healthy ecosystems. In the past decade they have increased in severity and duration, killed more people, and burned more structures.

Climate change has the potential to destabilize general operating budgets and constrain access to lending markets. These presentations share promising solutions for “climate-proofing” budgets.

Slide show: The wildland-urban interface is growing and wildfires are causing cause more damage. Land use planning is an important solution.

Flood risk is underestimated in the U.S., but better maps and data are not enough to help communities. They must be accompanied with resources to support local action.

A new report in our Economic Profile System provides community-level data about wildfire hazard and potentially vulnerable populations.

Explore the number of structures destroyed in each state by wildfire. Structures lost—rather than acres burned—provides a more complete measure of the broad impacts of wildfire.

The number of western Montana homes in areas with high wildfire hazard has doubled, outpacing development rates in areas with low wildfire hazard.

Communities highlighted in this report have successfully reduced flood risk through strategic partnerships, innovative solutions, and creative funding.

This guide provides advice for developing funding strategies for flood mitigation projects, including where to find funding and how to make an economic pitch for mitigation projects.

Kimiko Barrett, Ph.D., demonstrates how community resilience to wildfire needs to include planning and adaptation strategies for homes and neighborhoods.