Natural Hazards
Wildfires, floods, and other climate-related disasters are becoming more extensive and costly as the climate changes. Our research helps communities understand where people may be vulnerable, and how strategies such as land use planning can help reduce risk.
Decreasing flood risk in the Midwest with regional collaborations
A regional approach to flood risk can help communities pool resources and implement effective solutions. Five case studies offer lessons.
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Learn more about our wildfire research
Missing the mark: Effectiveness and funding in community wildfire risk reduction
A new analysis shows that managing the built environment is the most effective strategy at reducing wildfire risk to communities, yet it receives the least funding and policy support.
Analysis of the first round of Community Wildfire Defense Grants
An independent analysis by Headwaters Economics shows that the first round of funding from the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program prioritized high-risk, low-income communities.
Yellowstone Flood reveals Montana’s mobile home flood risk
Montana’s mobile home residents face disproportionate flood risk and traditional solutions leave them behind.
Construction costs for a wildfire-resistant home: California edition
In light of rising wildfire risks, we analyzed the costs of constructing homes to three levels of wildfire resistance in California.
Capacity-limited states still struggle to access FEMA BRIC grants
Places with lower capacity are failing to get funding through FEMA’s flagship grant program, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC).
Mobile home residents face higher flood risk
Mobile homes are the most common unsubsidized, affordable housing in the United States but have disproportionately higher flood risk than other housing types.
The unequal impacts of wildfire
See where wildfire risk intersects social and economic factors that can make it difficult for people to prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfire.
Improving benefit-cost analyses for rural areas
Benefit-cost analysis, required for many federal funding sources, puts smaller, rural, and low-income communities at a disadvantage.
Wildfires destroy thousands of structures each year
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.
Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire
Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire (CPAW) works with communities to reduce wildfire risk through improved land use planning. The program is a program of Headwaters Economics, in partnership with the USDA Forest Service.
