In tiny Silvana, flooding is a way of life. This time the river reached a record high

The Stillaguamish River on Norman Road in Snohomish County set a record and crested at 21.34 feet on Wednesday. Homes and businesses were inundated, water spilled into farm fields, and for several hours Silvana was reachable only by boat. A UW Climate Impacts Group report is mentioned in this Seattle Times article.


New funding for the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative supports work in flooding, wildfire smoke

The Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative is starting two exciting new projects this year that will support adaptation to flooding and wildfire smoke, thanks to funding from NOAA and the Department of Commerce. These projects are: 

Stories as science: Integrating lived experience and community knowledge into actionable adaptation science in Pacific Northwest and Pacific Islands regions. This project brings together researchers and storytellers from the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative, the Pacific Research on Island Solutions for Adaptation program and Tikkun Olam Productions. A recent story from the Resilience Collaborative highlights how this project aims to elevate the experiences of frontline communities while testing the oral history process as a novel method for co-producing science and guiding adaptation.

Understanding the role of social infrastructure in extreme heat and wildfire smoke vulnerability mitigation: A regional comparison in the West and Pacific Northwest regions. This project brings together researchers from the Desert Research Institute and the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative.

Both projects are supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is awarding $3.9 million over four years to existing NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships teams (formerly known as Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments). The eight projects receiving this funding will test, scale up and transfer knowledge to build national adaptation to floods and wildfires across eight different projects.


Climate Impacts Group participating in improv/science event

At the Climate Impacts Group, we’re always interested in creative and novel ways to communicate about climate change. So when we were invited to partner with an improv troupe, we said “yes, and!” 

Dr. Guillaume Mauger, lead scientist at the Climate Impacts Group, will be presenting on his work on climate adaptation and flooding for “Mad Science,” a theater event blending science and improv comedy. Hosted by Seattle Rep and Bandit Theatre on Friday, November 10, at 5 p.m., the event will feature two environmental scientists giving short “lightning” talks, followed by an improv show based off of their talks. 

We’re excited to see what comes out of this fruitful + funny partnership!


NCRC and partners to pilot groundbreaking co-production method

Building resilience to climate change requires many diverse areas of expertise, experiences and knowledge. Though they have historically been marginalized from climate preparedness efforts, people of color, Indigenous peoples, people with lower incomes and people whose lives depend on natural resources — known collectively as “frontline communities” — have innovative solutions for building resilience to climate change impacts. 

The Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative and partners are piloting a groundbreaking method for elevating first-hand experiences and visions of climate resilience and solutions, with the goal of incorporating community knowledge into efforts to prepare for climate impacts. Partnering with the documentary storytelling organization Tikkun Olam Productions and the Pacific Research on Island Solutions for Adaptation program, a trans-disciplinary research team will record the oral histories of frontline communities facing flooding and other climate change impacts. Oral history is a method of documenting first-hand experiences, memories and reflections through in-depth conversation and deep listening. The team will incorporate these stories into climate adaptation efforts, testing the oral history process as a novel method for co-producing science and guiding adaptation. The project is funded by a grant from the NOAA Climate Program Office. 

Dr. Rishi Sugla, a lead scientist at the Climate Impacts Group, is drawing on his expertise in community organizing, documentary filmmaking and the natural sciences to lead this project. “Storytelling approaches, like oral histories and documentary film, provide rich context that can inform place-based and community-led solutions to the most pressing problems facing frontline communities” he says. “This work is about creating just climate futures that center the knowledge and experiences of communities first and foremost. At the same time, we want to make sure we are co-generating resources that build capacity and power in our community partners along the way, through storytelling work oriented around our partner’s expressed needs. We are excited that NOAA sees the potential of multimedia storytelling as part of a climate justice focused adaptation practice. ” 

Over the course of three years, the project team will work with Indigenous communities in Washington and Hawai’i that are at increased risk of flooding due to various social, economic and political stressors. The team of researchers and storytellers will hold community sessions to co-create a production guide, facilitate 10 community members’ oral histories, edit the oral histories to highlight collective narratives and work with researchers to analyze the oral histories for relevant data for adaptation projects. The project is “an innovative and human-centered approach to accelerating climate adaptation,”  Dr. Victoria Keener, co-lead principal investigator from the Pacific Research on Islands Solutions for Adaptation Program, says. “We need more than data to communicate the impacts of climate change in frontline communities, and the strong history of storytelling in the Pacific Islands can help inform and implement needed changes,” she says. Dr. Keener and Dr. Guillaume Mauger of the Climate Impacts Group are co-Principal Investigators on the project. Maggie Lemere and Marielle Olentine, both of Tikkun Olam Productions, will lead filming and production of the oral histories and support the creation of community design sessions. 

Marielle Olentine, a storyteller and producer at Tikkun Olam, describes the production company as “a team of regenerative storytelling practitioners.” “Our team believes in the power of collective narratives to inform and reinforce the resilience of communities on the frontlines of climate change. This work centers and amplifies the legitimacy and value of the lived experiences of those that have been inhabiting these landscapes for generations,” she says. “Inviting living experts into the design process through community design sessions is a core part of what makes this research context-specific and will ideally allow these oral histories to interweave with scientific approaches to disaster response and climate adaptation in a way that promotes community autonomy and buy-in. We’re grateful to those who are already doing this work and look forward to growing the depth of knowledge in this area through NOAA’s support.” 

The trans-disciplinary team will start developing the project this fall, and plan to hold their first community meeting in Washington early this spring.  


The increasing risk of flooding: What solutions are Washingtonians considering to manage flooding as the climate changes? – Part One

As the climate changes, the risk of flooding is increasing in some watersheds. That means how Washingtonians approach floodplain management is changing, too. Guillaume Mauger, a research scientist at the UW Climate Impacts Group, is interviewed for Northwest Public Broadcasting.


More Floods and Worse Floods’ in the Chehalis Basin: Officials Discuss Potential Effects of Climate Change

The Office of the Chehalis Basin isn’t just preparing for this year’s possible flooding events, but is looking ahead using University of Washington climate change models to see what flooding might look like in the state’s second largest river basin by the end of the century. Climate Impacts Group science is referenced.


AP News: From dry to deluge, how heavy snow, rain flooded Yellowstone

In Yellowstone, rivers and creeks this week raged with water much higher and faster than even the rare benchmark 500 year flood. Weather-whiplashed residents and government officials raced to save homes, roads and businesses. Guillaume Mauger is quoted. This article was picked up by five different news outlets.


Testing a new time-traveling VR experience that explores sea level rise in Seattle

The Seattle Public Library and the University of Washington have created a virtual reality experience for teens and families that explores climate change and its impacts on sea level rise in Seattle’s industrialized Duwamish River and South Park neighborhood.

Former CIG Researcher Heidi Roop is quoted. A story about this project was also recently published in UW News.

“VR allows us to give people an experience that we couldn’t otherwise give since we’re looking toward the future.”
– Heidi Roop