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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.

Featured Research

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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LATEST VIDEO: Building for wildfire

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WILDFIRE RESEARCH

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.

Smoke rises from a hillside above a community in Utah's Wasatch Valley.

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.

Aerial view of neighborhood destroyed by wildfire.

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.

Learn about CPAW communities

Recent Natural Hazards 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.

Smoke rises from a hillside above a community in Utah's Wasatch Valley.

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.

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.

Building for wildfire

In this video produced by Headwaters Economics, homeowner Brodey Simkins describes the tragedy of losing his home to wildfire and his commitment to rebuilding with wildfire in mind.

A wildfire smolders around a house in the forest. Smoke rises above the charred landscape.

Wildfire safety standards for Montana

Statewide wildfire safety standards are proven and cost effective. Montana can adopt standards to help make communities safer from increasing wildfire risks.

Illustration of money falling into piles over a puddle

Match requirements prevent rural and low-capacity communities from accessing climate resilience funding

Many federal grant programs require communities to provide a local match, creating barriers for rural and underserved places.

Illustration of wildfire in forest, orange and yellow flames lapping conifer trees on a hillside, Stable Diffusion generated.

New research shows where wildfire mitigation can be highly cost effective

The United States is spending billions of dollars on suppressing wildfires that threaten a growing number of homes, but very little on better preparing communities before a wildfire occurs.

Green Infrastructure: Cost-effective solutions to flooding

Green infrastructure can provide long-term, cost-effective solutions to flooding and can help communities adapt to climate change. We provide a cost breakdown for eight green infrastructure practices.

Yellowstone Flood reveals Montana’s mobile home flood risk

Montana’s mobile home residents face disproportionate flood risk and traditional solutions leave them behind.

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).

See all research under Natural Hazards

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