In collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and five other key partners, NACo is excited to announce the launch of the Naturally Resilient Communities online guide tool to promote the role that nature-based solutions can play in helping reduce flood risk for communities, while also providing other benefits such as improved water quality, enhanced recreational opportunities and wildlife habitat, and stronger, more resilient local economies.  

Americans have had ample reminders of nature’s unpredictable fury, as extreme weather events have become the unfortunate norm for many counties across the nation.  Since 2010, counties housing 96 percent of the total U.S. population were affected by federally declared weather-related disasters.  It’s clear that traditional approaches for mitigating risks from storms are proving not to be enough.  Often overlooked is the role that nature itself can play alongside traditional, manmade structures—like seawalls, dams and levees.  For instance, when rivers have more room during floods, floodwaters can disperse and slow rather than rise, rage and threaten communities.  Along our coasts as well, natural features like sand dunes and marshes can help reduce wave heights and absorb storm surges.  Restoring and strengthening natural systems not only helps counties become more resilient by mitigating risks from extreme weather, but it also brings additional economic, health, and social benefits.

Thus, the Naturally Resilient Communities partnership developed this guide tool in order to help community leaders learn more about nature-based strategies by featuring specific solutions and highlighting case studies of successful projects to help local leaders identify solutions that might be replicable for their county.  

You can find this guide at NRCSolutions.org 

 A presentation and more information on this partnership(which revceived recognition from the White House in March of 2016) and this newly-launched guide will be given at the Resilient Counties meeting on flooding and disasters at the upcoming NACo Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. on February 25th.  

 NACo Webinar : Naturally Resilient Communities 

View Naturally Resilient Communities Partnership Press Release Here

For more information, please contact Jack Morgan.