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Resilience Roundup
April 6, 2016
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- March 24, 2016 - Murphy learns there's no simple solution for a cleaner Long Island Sound, New Haven Register
- March 22, 2016 - Mayor Blake promoting flood safety awareness, CT Post
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- March 30, 2016 - Climate Model Predicts West Antarctic Ice Sheet Could Melt Rapidly, The New York Times
- March 28, 2016 - Arctic sea ice sets wintertime record low thanks to global warming, USA Today
- March 24, 2016 - Study says Alaska could lose massive icefield by 2200, University of Alaska Fairbanks News
- March 24, 2016 - Meteorologists overwhelmingly conclude climate change is real and human-caused, The Washington Post
- March 22, 2016 - New Hope For U.S. Coastlines Even As Seas Rise, Climate Central
Resources
Events
- April 8 & 18, 2016 - Webinar: Exploring Climate Solutions Webinar Series April 8 - Renewable Thermal Technologies in Connecticut and April 18 - British Columbia Revenue Neutral Carbon Tax. Sponsored by the Governor's Council on Climate Change.
- April 10-13, 2016 - Conference: Keeping History Above Water in Newport, RI on threat of sea level rise to historic coastal communities.
- April 22, 2016 - Symposium: Resilience and the Big Picture: Governing and Financing Innovations for Long Island Sound and Beyond. Sponsored by Connecticut Sea Grant, Sea Grant Law & Policy Center, and UConn School of Law Center for Energy & Environmental Law. RSVP by April 19.
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May 12-13, 2016
- HURRIPLAN two-day course in New London, CT. Free course. 12 CECs for CFMs. Register at NDPC website. Sponsored by CAFM and the National Disaster Preparedness Center.
Funding
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 CIRCA in the News
NEW HAVEN >> The biggest challenge to reducing the high nitrogen levels in Long Island Sound: A one-size solution does not fit all.
This was the conclusion environmental advocates, Sound School students and teachers, and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., came to at a roundtable discussion Thursday.
"I'd like to leave here a little bit smarter so I can be your advocate in Washington," Murphy said to kick off the discussion about how high nitrogen levels are contributing to low water quality in the Sound. "We have a lot of work to do."
The need for this group discussion was sparked by the recent release of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's nitrogen reduction strategy for Long Island Sound, Murphy said. He wanted to hear from stewards of the Sound how he could best be an advocate in Washington as this strategy turns into action.
High nitrogen levels in the Sound can lead to fish die-offs and harmful algae blooms. Last summer, more than 100 terrapin turtles died as a result of high nitrogen levels, according to Roger Reynolds, legal director for Connecticut Fund for the Environmental/Save the Sound.
"The Long Island Sound is very much under distress," Reynolds said, noting nitrogen flows to the Sound mostly from water-treatment plants, combined sewer overflows, lawn fertilizers and storm runoff.
The EPA strategy states that scientists need to understand where the nitrogen is coming from before developing plans to mitigate the amounts flowing into the Sound. Reynolds said the EPA has laid out an aggressive timeline of one year for understanding these nitrogen problems.
"To do this, they are going to need resources," Reynolds told Murphy. "This is a really critical time."
Reynolds added that the risks to the Sound posed by climate change are compounding the effects of the high nitrogen levels.
After discussing major concerns of high nitrogen levels in the Sound, with some input from Sound School students about some of their own research on the topic, the group turned to finding solutions for how to regulate nitrogen outputs once the EPA understands how much nitrogen is coming from which sources.
But this isn't a one-size-fits-all problem, advocates told Murphy.
"If you have 1,000 discharge sites (in one city), you need to regulate it differently than if you have 100," said James O'Donnell, professor of marine sciences at the University of Connecticut. "There needs to be different systems."
"There's not one solution because there are lots of problems," O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell, also the executive director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation, said developing different nitrogen-reduction plans for varying regions might cost a little more, but the benefits will far outweigh those costs.
Other environmental advocates spoke up about reduction efforts that may not require legislative action or oversight.
Margaret Miner, executive director of the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, said reducing nitrogen levels from fertilizers could be done with more advocacy and educating the public.
Miner also advocated for localized plans to reduce nitrogen outputs into the Sound.
Murphy agreed that while localized nitrogen-reduction plans might cost more to develop, they would have "enormous payoffs down the line."
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Local & State News Clips
MILFORD - The City of Milford, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are partnering to improve public awareness for National Flood Safety Awareness Week, which is this week.
The city's goal is to improve understanding about flood risk among individuals, families, businesses and communities. Knowledge and the right precautions can protect families, homes and finances."We've seen the devastation that floods can cause. They can happen at any time, anywhere across our region, which means we all need to be prepared now," said FEMA Region III Administrator MaryAnn Tierney.
She added: "Having a flood insurance policy for your home or business is just one way to prepare; there are also simple steps you can take now to be prepared for flooding such as developing a family emergency plan, having an emergency supply kit ready to go, and learning about your flood risk."
Floods are the most common hazard in the United States. While some floods develop slowly, flash floods develop suddenly. Hurricanes can bring flooding to areas far inland from where they first hit the coast, as we witnessed from the devastating impacts of Storms Irene and Sandy.
Officials say that there are simple steps citizens can take to reduce their risk to all types of floods. Be aware of flood hazards no matter where you live or work, but especially if you are in low-lying areas, near water, be aware of flood hazards no matter where you live or work, but especially if you are in low-lying areas, near water.
"Flood Safety Awareness Week is an excellent time for people and communities to learn about their flood risk and implement precautions to mitigate the threat to life and property," Mayor Blake said.
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National News Clips
The great ice sheet, larger than Mexico, is thought to be potentially vulnerable to disintegration from a relatively small amount of global warming, and capable of raising the sea level by 12 feet or more should it break up. But researchers long assumed the worst effects would take hundreds - if not thousands - of years to occur.
Now, new research suggests the disaster scenario could play out much sooner.
Continued high emissions of heat-trapping gases could launch a disintegration of the ice sheet within decades, according to a study published Wednesday, heaving enough water into the ocean to raise the sea level as much as three feet by the end of this century.
With ice melting in other regions, too, the total rise of the sea could reach five or six feet by 2100, the researchers found. That is roughly twice the increase reported as a plausible worst-case scenario by a United Nations panel just three years ago, and so high it would likely provoke a profound crisis within the lifetimes of children being born today.
The situation would grow far worse beyond 2100, the researchers found, with the rise of the sea exceeding a pace of a foot per decade by the middle of the 22nd century. Scientists had documented such rates of increase in the geologic past, when far larger ice sheets were collapsing, but most of them had long assumed it would be impossible to reach rates so extreme with the smaller ice sheets of today.
"We are not saying this is definitely going to happen," said David Pollard, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University and a co-author of the new paper. "But I think we are pointing out that there's a danger, and it should receive a lot more attention."
The long-term effect would likely be to drown the world's coastlines, including many of its great cities.
New York City is nearly 400 years old; in the worst-case scenario conjured by the research, its chances of surviving another 400 years in anything like its present form would appear to be remote. Miami, New Orleans, London, Venice, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia, are all just as vulnerable as New York, or more so.
In principle, coastal defenses could be built to protect the densest cities, but experts believe it will be impossible to do that along all 95,000 miles of the American coastline, meaning that immense areas will most likely have to be abandoned to the rising sea.
The new research, published by the journal Nature, is based on improvements in a computerized model of Antarctica and its complex landscape of rocks and glaciers, meant to capture factors newly recognized as imperiling the stability of the ice.
The new version of the model allowed the scientists, for the first time, to reproduce high sea levels of the past, such as a climatic period about 125,000 years ago when the seas rose to levels 20 to 30 feet higher than today.
That gave them greater confidence in the model's ability to project the future sea level, though they acknowledged that they do not yet have an answer that could be called definitive.
"You could think of all sorts of ways that we might duck this one," said Richard B. Alley, a leading expert on glacial ice at Pennsylvania State University. "I'm hopeful that will happen. But given what we know, I don't think we can tell people that we're confident of that."
Continued...
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Arctic sea ice set a record wintertime low for the second straight year because of global warming, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center and NASA announced Monday.
"I've never seen such a warm, crazy winter in the Arctic," data center director Mark Serreze said in a statement. "The heat was relentless."
Arctic temperatures this winter were up to 15 degrees higher than average, according to NASA.
Sea ice is frozen ocean water that melts each summer and refreezes each winter. It typically reaches its smallest "extent" in September and largest in March of each year. It is tracked by the data center located in Boulder, Colo.
Sea ice extent over the Arctic Ocean measured 5.607 million square miles on March 24, beating last year's record low of 5.612 million square miles.
Records for sea ice began in 1979.
Why do we care about sea ice? Because it affects wildlife as well as people who live in the Arctic, the data center said. It also influences weather here in the U.S.
The amount of sea ice in the Arctic has been steadily shrinking over the past few decades due to man-made global warming, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"The Arctic is in crisis," said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the data center. "Year by year, it's slipping into a new state, and it's hard to see how that won't have an effect on weather throughout the Northern Hemisphere."
Globally, even though Antarctic sea ice has gotten larger, sea ice has declined overall.
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The Juneau Icefield forms a snow-covered expanse in the Coast Mountains north of Juneau.
The massive icefield that feeds Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier may be gone by 2200 if warming trend predictions hold true, according to University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers.
The estimate is the product of the first detailed look at the future of the Juneau Icefield, source of the Mendenhall and about 140 other glaciers, said Regine Hock, a glaciologist at UAF's Geophysical Institute.
The terminus of Mendenhall Glacier, 10 miles northwest of downtown Juneau, is visible from a U.S. Forest Service center visited by 450,000 people in 2015. If warming continues, the terminus will retreat up the valley and withdraw from view around a corner.
"By the end of this century, people will most likely not be able to see the Mendenhall Glacier anymore from the visitor's center," Hock said.
Hock is one of the authors on a paper published in the Journal of Glaciology that outlines their findings. UAF postdoctoral fellow Florian Ziemen, UAF glaciologist Andy Aschwanden, Hock and five others used past and present observations and mathematical models to predict how North America's fifth-largest icefield would react under different climate scenarios.
The icefield covers 1,500 square miles in steep mountainous terrain. Climate data for the area has been sparse. The researchers were able to correct the data set from the Weather Research and Forecasting Model and combine that with the Parallel Ice Sheet Model. The Parallel Ice Sheet Model, developed by UAF researchers, is widely used by glacier researchers around the world.
The team predicted that more than 60 percent of the ice will be lost by 2099 if warming trends continue, Hock said. The entire icefield could be gone by 2200.
However, if temperatures remain the same as they are today, the Juneau Icefield will retreat only slightly and then stabilize. The researchers found interesting the model results that also show that the icefield would regrow to almost its current shape if the area were ice-free right now. That's because the high-altitude cold weather of the mountains would cause snowfall to start the glacier-forming process again, Hock said. This is very different from other glaciers and icefields in Alaska that are at lower altitudes.
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Earth has witnessed its warmest two years on record, 2015 and 2014, over the last two years. At the same time, peer-reviewed studies have piled up demonstrating man's influence on our climate.
Meteorologists, who keep their hands on the pulse of what's happening to the atmosphere, are taking notice. While some, by their nature, are cautious about emerging scientific ideas and theories, new survey data reveal almost unanimous agreement that the climate is changing and a huge majority support the view that human activities are largely behind it.
According to a January survey from George Mason University released today, more than 95 percent of meteorologists think climate change is happening and more than 80 percent of them estimate human activities are at least half-responsible (more than two-thirds "mostly" responsible).
Seventeen percent of respondents to the survey said their views about climate change had changed over the past five years and, of those, most (87 percent) said they are more convinced than ever that human-caused changes are happening. They were most persuaded by new peer-reviewed studies, the growing scientific consensus on climate change, and evidence of climate change where they live.
"[I]t does appear that more meteorologists are now more convinced that human-caused climate change is happening," said Ed Maibach, lead author of the survey findings and director of George Mason's Center for Climate Change Communication. "That is exactly what one would expect, of course, given the trajectory of our changing climate and the ever increasing of the science."
Meteorologists who participated in the survey held diverse views about how effective mitigation efforts, such as efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, would be in reducing future climate change.
"Only 18 percent of survey respondents feel that additional climate change is largely preventable over the next 50 years," Maibach said. "To me, this finding reinforces the importance of taking adaption actions, so that people and communities aren't needlessly harmed."
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Scientists have encouraging news for planners along the Eastern seaboard staring down the worsening crisis of sea level rise: if managed well, most of the region's shorelines could adapt naturally to the drenching changes that lie ahead.
The research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, offers hope that vulnerable coastal areas could remain above water during the decades ahead, even if some of those areas may change beyond recognition.
About 70 percent of the shoreline from Virginia to Maine could evolve naturally to meet hastening rises in sea levels, the scientists concluded, slowing the losses of land that have been projected by other research.
"The coast isn't just standing still in the face of rising seas," said Bob Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University who was not involved with the new study. "Landscapes change."
The shorelines that were found to be most likely to adapt as tides rise were natural ecosystems - a reminder of the potential hazards associated with paving over them to build neighborhoods and roads as temperatures rise, which melts ice, expands ocean waters, and increases flooding.
The Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern coastlines are home to many such ecosystems, including marshes, beaches and shoreline forests. They could shift, morph and grow as seas swell around them. Farmlands and forests could gradually change into marshes, the scientists say, and marshes can grow vertically as seas rise.
But unlike those natural environments, American coastal cities and towns are currently being adapted in some vulnerable regions to meet the rise of the seas through expensive construction projects - if they're being adapted at all.
Kopp praised the new study, which was an attempt at beginning to quantify how some of America's coastlines could respond to rising seas. "Understanding that dynamic response needs to be a major area of research," Kopp said.
Seas rose more than 5 inches in the 20th century, leading to routine flooding in parts of the East and Gulf coasts. The problem is being exacerbated along those coastlines by erosion and other factors, and seas are expected to rise by several more feet this century.
Previous analyses have tended to assume that shores will remain motionless as saltwater engulfs them, leading to overestimations of flood risks.
Erika Lentz, a U.S. Geological Survey geologist who led the new study, described those limitations in previous studies as a "big frustration" for many scientists.
"A lot of the coastal area, at least in the northeast, but also around the world, is comprised of these ecosystems that we know are going to respond differently to sea level rise than a straightforward inundation," Lentz said.
Lentz's team, which included Columbia University and NASA researchers, used maps to divide 10 million acres of Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern coastlines into different landforms, such as developed areas, marshes and barren rocks. They also scoured scientific literature for findings that could reveal how each of the region's major landforms are likely to respond as seas rise.
The scientists combined that information with sea level rise projections to evaluate how much of the land could adapt to rising seas, and how much would be more likely to be consumed by them.
Lentz said the research showed that shorelines could change as seas rise, but she warned that many of those changes could be harmful, such as by reducing the amount of farmland available. "Just because it's going to stay above the water doesn't mean it's a desired outcome," she said.
Next, the group intend to apply their newly developed methodology to other coastal regions.
Stetson University landscape ecologist Jason Evans said the findings were a reminder that "programs to conserve coastal landscapes" are "likely to be very good investments."
Natural coastal systems can buffer high tide floods and storm surges, while coastal developments can worsen an area's vulnerability to them.
Evans wasn't involved with the study, but last week he co-published population-based projections showing 13 million Americans could be living in homes that flood daily by 2100. He said the new study helps illuminate future costs of building near shorelines, which may require future spending on seawalls or permanent evacuations.
"Building into vulnerable areas means more cost and more people at risk in the future," Evans said. "You're also destroying a natural system that has this buffering effect. So it's a double whammy."
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Announcements
Resources
Today, the United States Global Change Research Program released a new assessment of a growing public health threat, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment. Drawing from decades of advances in the physical science of climate change, the report strengthens our understanding of the growing risks that a changing climate poses to human health and welfare, and highlights factors that make some individuals and communities particularly vulnerable.
"This assessment not only provides the latest science on questions like how climate change affects our health and who is most vulnerable - it starts to answer the key questions of how much of an impact climate change will have on different health problems and how many people will be affected," said Dr. John Balbus, a Senior Advisor for Public Health at the National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences.
The climate and health assessment is a product of USGCRP's sustained National Climate Assessment process, and represents a coordinated effort by eight Federal agencies (with leadership from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and more than 100 experts from across the United States to inform public health officials, urban and disaster response planners, decision makers, and other stakeholders within and outside of the government who are interested in better understanding the risks climate change presents to human health. The effort was overseen by the USGCRP-coordinated Interagency Crosscutting Working Group on Climate Change and Human Health, led by co-chairs Balbus, Juli Trtanj of NOAA, and George Luber of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The assessment was informed by inputs gathered through listening sessions and scientific and technical information contributed through public solicitations. The resulting product provides a comprehensive, evidence-based, and, where possible, quantitative estimation of observed and projected climate change related health impacts in the United States.
It was made possible through "longstanding collaborative efforts across Federal agencies, such as investments in climate monitoring, modeling, and operational climate forecasting, that could be leveraged in new ways to make climate data real and relevant for Americans," said Trtanj.
Mike Kuperberg, USGCRP Executive Director, noted that "these new collaborative capabilities provide a strong basis for ongoing assessment of the state of the science."
The report is accompanied by an interactive web presence that provides the ability to explore the data
and information behind the report, powered by the Global Change Information System.
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Events
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The Connecticut Alliance for Campus Sustainability would like to invite you to
REGISTER for FREE for the 3
rdannual conference: Climate Change Commitments: From Paris to Connecticut Campuses, on Thursday April 7
th 2016, at UConn Law School in Hartford from 8:30am - 3:30pm (registration will begin at 8:00am).
The 2016 Conference will focus on campus climate action within the context of the international climate agreement, national climate initiatives, and the Governor's Council on Climate Change.
UConn Law School is located at 45 Elizabeth Street, Hartford, CT. Please use this address in your GPS. For parking information please see
UCONN Law School Parking For this event conference attendees may park in any campus parking spot (excluding fire lanes, or disabled parking spots) . Please ignore signs that say permit parking only. If any conference attendee does receive a ticket please contact Laura Miller using the below contact information.
For more information please contact Laura Miller at
[email protected] or 860-465-0254. We will be adding more details to our conference web page as they become available.
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Renewable Thermal Technologies in Connecticut
April 8, Noon- 1pm
Join us to learn about opportunities for renewable thermal technologies in Connecticut. What are renewable thermal technologies? Are they viable in Connecticut? Participants will learn about how renewable thermal technologies can lead to reduced energy costs and play a role in helping meet state climate goals. Air- and ground-source heat pumps, geothermal, and solar thermal are all examples of renewable thermal technologies that provide heating and/or cooling services for buildings and homes. Participants will also learn about current incentives and financing opportunities for renewable thermal technologies.
British Columbia Revenue Neutral Carbon Tax
April 18, Noon-1pm
Join us to learn about the British Columbia Revenue Neutral Carbon Tax. Fossil fuel use imposes significant costs on society and the environment - costs that traditionally have not been factored into the price of coal, oil, and natural gas. Recognizing that this economic loophole has been one of the principal drivers of climate change, the Canadian province of British Columbia instituted a broad-based carbon tax in 2008. The tax applies to fossil fuels purchased or used in British Columbia - including those for transportation, home heating, and electricity generation. Revenues generated by the tax are returned to taxpayers through corresponding reductions in other taxes, including personal and corporate income taxes.
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Keeping History Above Water is a national conversation that focuses on the increasing threat of sea level rise to historic coastal communities and their built environment. Over four days, specialists from across the United States and abroad will share experiences, examine risks, and debate solutions with an emphasis on case studies and real world applications. Keeping History Above Water will approach sea level rise from a multi-disciplinary perspective in order to develop practical approaches to mitigation, protective adaptation, and general resilience.
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It's not just sea level rise and coastal flooding. Our changing climate affects all aspects of
our lives - our infrastructure, our farms, the wildlife around us, our leisure activities, the
tourist attractions that draw people to our towns and our businesses, and more. The direct
effect and the ripple effects of our changing climate impact our economy and the way we
live. We need to think about how we build our roads and how we design our drainage,
about the vegetables we buy from our local farms and the animals we find in our backyards,
about our tourist attractions and the businesses the tourists frequent. Come learn more
about the issues and how to deal with them.
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Sponsored by Connecticut Sea Grant and the UConn Center for Energy and Environmental Law.
When:
Friday, April 22, 2016
8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where:
Reading Room
William F. Starr Hall
45 Elizabeth St.
Hartford, CT 06105-2290
Description:
Resilience and the Big Picture: Governing and Financing Innovations for Long Island Sound and Beyond symposium presentations and discussions aim to explore the policy and legal challenges of planning, implementing and financing resilient futures on both sides of the high tide line as well as the complexities of distributing and coordinating the governance of shared resources among multiple authorities, with a focus on marine spatial planning efforts.
Sponsored by Connecticut Sea Grant and UConn Center for Energy and Environmental Law.
Contact:
Kristie Beahm
Dr. Syma Ebbin
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The event is on Wednesday, April 27th at Two Roads Brewery in Stratford, CT and is the first of CAFM's new Twilight series that combines professional networking with a presentation on topics suggested by our members. April's topic is "Working with your Local Floodplain Manager" and attendees can learn more about how to work with your local floodplain manager, what it means to be in the floodplain, and also get a greater understanding of how the Flood Insurance Rate Maps were developed and how they can potentially be changed. The presentation has been tailored for the consulting community out there who often don't get the same training available to municipal representatives, but all are certainly welcome. If you are interested in this topic and haven't yet been to see this converted Engine Parts Assembly Plant that has been converted to a brewery - the space is a real treat and the topic is sure to generate fantastic discussion. Cost is $35 with cash bar. Please register via the attached flyer or on our website at www.ctfloods.org<http://www.ctfloods.org>. Just go to the events tab.
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In conjunction with the National Disaster Preparedness Center, CAMF is bringing the HURRIPLAN two-day course back to CT on May 12th and 13th. Planners, this course is very well suited to you, your colleagues in the Building Department, and Emergency Management team members. Preparedness is a cross-departmental collaboration so please circulate this amongst other potential interested parties. This was last offered about 5 years ago and will be held at Fort Trumbull in New London, CT. For those who are Certified Floodplain Managers, this FREE course provides 12 CECs. Please register directly on the NDPC website: https://ndptc.hawaii.edu/training/delivery/1502.
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Funding
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The
Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) is a partnership of the University of Connecticut and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The mission of CIRCA is to assist Connecticut towns and cities adapt to a changing climate and to enhance the resilience of their infrastructure.
CIRCA is requesting
grant proposals from municipal governments and councils of government for initiatives that advance resilience, including the creation of conceptual design, construction (demonstration projects or other) of structures, or the design of practices and policies that increase their resilience to climate change and severe weather. This program is focused on implementation. The CIRCA Executive Steering Committee has made up to $100,000 in funds available to municipal governments and councils of government for the execution of resilience initiatives.
Project proposals should develop knowledge or experience that is transferable to multiple locations in Connecticut and have well-defined and measurable goals. Preferable projects will be implemented in no more than an 18-month time frame. Preference will also be given to those projects that leverage multiple funding sources and that involve collaboration with CIRCA to address at least one of the following priority areas:
1. Develop and deploy natural science, engineering, legal, financial, and policy best practices for climate resilience;
2. Undertake or oversee pilot projects designed to improve resilience and sustainability of the natural and built environment along Connecticut's coast and inland waterways;
3. Foster resilient actions and sustainable communities - particularly along the Connecticut coastline and inland waterways - that can adapt to the impacts and hazards of climate change; and
4. Reduce the loss of life and property, natural system and ecological damage, and social disruption from high-impact events.
Information on past grant recipients is available at:
http://circa.uconn.edu/recipients-muni.htm.
Eligible Applicants
All Connecticut municipalities and councils of government are eligible to apply. Partnerships are encouraged.
Proposal Deadline
An original and complete application must be received no later than April 15, 2016 by 5:00 PM.
Application materials can be found on the CIRCA website:
http://circa.uconn.edu/funds-muni.htm.
CIRCA will host an informational webinar on March 17, 2016 at 11:00 AM. Please see the Municipal Resilience Grant Program
webpage for registration details.
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FY 2016 Grant Opportunity Announcement
Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM)
Application period: 3/15/2016 - 4/29/2016. Sub-applications must be received by the state via e-grants no later than 3pm on April 29, 2016. Paper or email applications cannot be accepted.
All Sub-Applicants applying for FMA must have a FEMA approved local hazard mitigation plan in place no later than April 29th to be eligible to apply for project funding.
To Apply: Eligible applicants must apply for funding through the Mitigation e-Grants system on the FEMA Grants Portal, accessible at https://portal.fema.gov
Applications for funding are reviewed on a nationally competitive basis and there are limited funds available for these programs. Applications whose main focus is in line with Federal priorities have the best chance of being funded.
Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM):
Eligible Sub-Applicants:
State and Local Governmental Agencies
Indian Tribal Governments
Eligible Activities:
Mitigation Planning
Priorities:
1. Multi -Jurisdictional Local Natural Hazard Mitigation Plans (NHMP's). Up to $300,000 can be awarded per multi NHMP.
2. Single-Jurisdictional Local Natural Hazard Mitigation Plans (NHMP's). Up to $150,000 can be awarded per single jurisdictional NHMP.
For more information about e-Grants, go to:
Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA):
Provides funds to eligible sub-applicants to reduce or eliminate risk of flood damage to buildings insured under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Federal priorities are to mitigate severe repetitive loss (SRL) and repetitive loss properties (RL).
Eligible Activities Include:
Property acquisition and Structure Demolition
Structure Elevation
Dry Flood-proofing (Non-residential and Historic residential structures only)
Minor Localized Flood Reduction Projects (that primarily benefit NFIP insured structures)
Mitigation Re-construction
For FMA please contact Emily Pysh, State Hazard Mitigation Officer, [email protected]
For PDM please contact Gemma Fabris, Deputy State Hazard Mitigation Officer, [email protected]
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The National Recreation and Park Association has just opened the call for applications for our Great Urban Parks Campaign model project grants. We seek to fund replicable green stormwater infrastructure projects in parks located in underserved communities. The overall goal is to demonstrate the social and environmental impacts of green infrastructure approaches to stormwater management, such as access to recreation and opportunities to connect with nature. Grants will be awarded up to $575,000 and projects must be completed by fall 2017.
We are sharing this with you in advance of a larger announcement later in the week and would appreciate your passing the opportunity along to eligible organizations in your network. Attached is a grant overview. More information, including the online grant application link, are available at http://www.nrpa.org/greeninfrastructure. The due date for applications is April 29.
Contact:
Jimmy O'Connor
National Recreation & Park Association
22377 Belmont Ridge Road
Ashburn, Virginia 20148
office: (703) 858-2177
mobile: (703) 314-8846
fax: (703) 858-0794
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The Resilience Roundup highlights
CIRCA's presence in the news, provides links to recent local/state/national news articles related to resilience and adaptation, and announces upcoming events and seminars.
The Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation's (CIRCA) mission is to increase the resilience and sustainability of vulnerable communities along Connecticut's coast and inland waterways to the growing impacts of climate change and extreme weather on the natural, built, and human environment. The institute is located at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus and includes faculty from across the university. CIRCA is a partnership between UConn and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP).
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