GOALS:
--Support heat and smoke coordination and communication in current activity areas (Spokane, Washington + Coeur d’Alene Tribal lands)

--Generate transferable insights and guidance to support heat and smoke resilience planning across the PNW and beyond

BACKGROUND:

As temperatures and wildfire risk increase throughout the Northwest, life-saving communications and actions will be required more frequently. Despite significant investment in heat and smoke preparedness planning across the region, current extreme heat or smoke indicators and communication mechanisms are frequently misaligned with how communities actually experience and respond. At a neighborhood scale, exposure varies substantially based on differences in housing type, infrastructure, and access to cooling and filtration resources. Closing the gap in regional coordination requires a more robust infrastructure that connects existing resources to communities, health care professionals, and decision-makers poised to act on them.

GOALS:
--Improve understanding of water scarcity preparedness challenges, adaptation responses, and implementation challenges across PNW water systems

--Support evaluation of source water protection and watershed management strategies as water scarcity preparedness and resilience approaches

--Strengthen the technical, institutional, and collaborative capacity to support locally relevant preparedness and resilience planning across Idaho, Oregon, and Washington

BACKGROUND:
Northwest water systems are experiencing increasingly complex water scarcity challenges associated with prolonged drought, changing hydrology, declining groundwater levels, and wildfire. Impacts vary significantly across the region due to differences in local hydrology, source waters, infrastructure capacity, water rights, watershed conditions, and land use. Small and rural systems are particularly vulnerable due to limited staffing and financial capacity while also being more likely to rely on a single source of supply. Small- and medium-sized water utilities, watershed organizations, Tribes, and local governments often face significant challenges accessing and applying hydrologic data, evaluating preparedness strategies, and coordinating implementation across jurisdictions and sectors.

GOALS:
--Quantify the groundwater storage co-benefits of existing and potential floodplain reconnection projects in Yakima County, Washington

--Quantify the flood risk reduction benefits of existing and potential floodplain projects in Pierce County, Washington

BACKGROUND:
Flooding is the most damaging and costly natural disaster in the Northwest, in terms of the annual average cost. In Washington state alone, it is estimated that over 2 million people and $86 billion in assets are located in flood hazard areas. Floods can cause loss of life and damage to infrastructure, homes, agricultural land, roads, and utilities; trigger erosion and landslide events; and transport debris and toxic contaminants that further impact communities and ecosystems. Flood affected communities often have limited resources for flood mitigation and recovery. Legacy land use decisions and structural flood defenses within and adjacent to floodplains can magnify flood risk, and have impaired vital ecosystem services and riparian habitat for key species such as salmon.