CLIMATE READY MISSOULA
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  • About
    • Our Team
    • News + Events
    • History
  • The Science
  • Impacts + Vulnerabilities
    • Wildfires
    • Wildfire Smoke
    • Higher Temperatures
    • Wetter Winters/Springs + Flooding
    • Drier Summers + Drought
    • Climate Variability
    • Climate Migration and Population Change
  • Goals + Strategies
    • Agriculture
    • Buildings, Land Use, & Transportation
    • Business, Recreation & Tourism
    • Ecosystems & Wildfire
    • Emergency Preparedness & Response
    • Energy
    • Water
    • Wildfire Smoke, Heat, and Health
  • Implementation

Climate Ready Missoula

Working for a healthy, just, and resilient Missoula

GET INVOLVED
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Winter 2022/2023 -

We are in the midst of updating our website to reflect the latest updates with all of our strategies. 

What have we been up to? In a nutshell, we're all in on electrification, using the Inflation Reduction Act resources to speed up implementation, and integrating climate resiliency into the City of Missoula's code reform update. 

Among many other things! Get in touch with any questions. 
Check out this short  animated film. Thanks 6 Pony Hitch!

Climate Ready Missoula in 6 quick facts: 

Missoula County's climate is changing.
Missoula County will be impacted by climate change.
There are things we can do to manage the unavoidable changes that are already here.
The Climate Ready Missoula plan is the result of nearly 2 years of work and the contributions of hundreds of Missoulians.
Climate Ready Missoula is an adaptation plan, but it does not minimize the importance of mitigation.
Implementing the plan will take all of us.

Ready to dig into the plan's details and get involved? Click on the buttons below.

READ THE FOREWORD
Read the Executive Summary
read the full plan
EVENTS
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newsletter
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Not sure where to start? Expand the accordion to find out more about...

THE PROCESS AND THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PLAN
  • "About" will help you understand the context of this planning process and why it's important.
  • "Our Team" will tell you more on who has been leading the project and providing crucial guidance along the way.
climate projections in missoula county
Go to the "The Science" for: 
  • Temperature and precipitation projections for Missoula County
  • Three scenarios to help you imagine what the future may look like.
climate primer
the Impacts climate change poses
  • Impacts + Vulnerabilities outlines the challenges climate change will bring.
  • Each climate impact has its own page (see drop down under Impacts + Vulnerabilities), where you can see how it will affect the different sectors of our community.
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what and who is vulnerable
  • Each impact page contains a table organized by sector, where you can see how the impact affects a part of our community. 
  • The table also contains vulnerability matrices, plotting all of the vulnerabilities facing that sector - organized from least to most severe and easier to harder to respond to. Click on the sector to expand and read more. 
vulnerability
​assessment
goals and strategies for addressing our vulnerabilities 
  • Goals + Strategies lets you filter our plan's goals by which type of vulnerability it addresses. 
  • All of our goals and actions are organized by sector, which you can explore under the Goals + Strategies tab. 
climate resiliency and covid-19
The coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis underscore the importance of how we build a resilient Missoula County.  We encourage you to read the new Foreword that speaks to this.
IMPLEMENTATION
In April of 2021, Missoula County hired a Climate Resilience Coordinator and implementation began in earnest. Visit the implementation page to learn more about our prioritization strategy and progress thus far. 
IMPLEMENTATION
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Climate Ready Missoula leadership is working with community partners to host an array of climate resiliency events across Missoula County. Visit the events page, sign up for the newsletter, or email Caroline Lauer, Missoula County's Climate Resilience Coordinator, for more information! 
EVENTS
NEWSLETTER
email caroline

Explore Climate Ready's Goals and Strategies to Build Climate Resiliency

Click on the buttons to explore each sector's goals and strategies for increasing resiliency. 
Agriculture
Buildings & Land Use
Business, Recreation, & Tourism
Ecosystems + Wildfire
Emergency Preparedness & Response
Energy
Water
Wildfire Smoke, Heat & Health

Guiding Principles

​We have developed 12 principles to guide the process of prioritizing and implementing the climate adaptation goals and actions that are presented in this plan. While all of these principles should be considered with respect to each adaptation goal and action, we recognize that in some cases there will be tradeoffs among the principles. We also know that to be resilient we need to collectively reduce our contributions to climate change by reducing our emissions.
collaborate and think holistically.
Climate change touches all aspects of our lives, requiring us to collaborate in new ways, to work across sectors and silos, and to think beyond our geographic boundaries. ​
prioritize equity. 
Adaptation actions should not increase inequity. Prioritize actions that build resilience while focusing on underrepresented and vulnerable groups and increasing equity.
ACT WITH, NOT FOR.
Maximize transparency and inclusivity in planning and implementation. Empower people with knowledge and tools to participate and take ownership of climate resiliency actions.
draw on tradition and culture.
Honor cultural values and draw on traditional ecological knowledge through collaborative partnerships. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are key partners, especially given that Missoula County falls within the ancestral homelands of these tribes.
use science.
Make decisions based on the best available science while explicitly considering uncertainty.
value natural processes.
Learn from nature and protect and restore naturally resilient ecological processes.
don't exacerbate the problem.
Adaptation actions should avoid increasing our contribution to climate change or undermining the ability of other sectors or regions to adapt. Prioritize actions that reduce our contribution to climate change while building resilience.
build on past work.
Recognize, value, and integrate prior and ongoing work. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
BALANCE IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM NEEDS. 
When prioritizing actions, select a combination of easy, quick wins and critical but challenging longer-term initiatives.
CONSIDER COSTS AND BENEFITS.
Adaptation actions should be evaluated by considering their long-term costs and benefits alongside the costs of not taking action.
FOCUS ON PREVENTION.
When possible, prioritize actions aimed at avoiding problems rather than addressing them after they occur.
innovate and adapt.
Monitor and evaluate actions to learn what’s actually working. Experiment with emerging solutions, be creative, maintain flexibility as conditions change, and build capacity to respond to the unexpected. ​

Why these goals and strategies? Because Missoula will experience these climate impacts: 

Click on the buttons to explore the impacts of climate change in Missoula County. You can also review our climate primer and vulnerability assessment in their entirety. 
Wildfires
Wildfire Smoke
Higher Temperatures
Flooding & Wetter Winters/Springs
Drier Summers & Drought
Climate Variability
Climate Migration & Population Changes
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  • Home
  • About
    • Our Team
    • News + Events
    • History
  • The Science
  • Impacts + Vulnerabilities
    • Wildfires
    • Wildfire Smoke
    • Higher Temperatures
    • Wetter Winters/Springs + Flooding
    • Drier Summers + Drought
    • Climate Variability
    • Climate Migration and Population Change
  • Goals + Strategies
    • Agriculture
    • Buildings, Land Use, & Transportation
    • Business, Recreation & Tourism
    • Ecosystems & Wildfire
    • Emergency Preparedness & Response
    • Energy
    • Water
    • Wildfire Smoke, Heat, and Health
  • Implementation