Tag: City of Madras Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan

Meet CPW GTF: Sarah Allison

Posted on by Julia Havens

Name: Sarah AllisonSarah Allison Community Planning Workshop CPw Oregon Oregon Leadership in Sustainability OLIS community resilience

Where were you born and where do you call home?
I was born in Waco, Texas (yes, yes, many jokes to be made, I know). Because my family is spread out all over the country, home is where my cats are – so Eugene!

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpower to be?
I have always wanted to be able to read minds. I hate guessing what people are thinking.

In which graduate program are you enrolled?
I am working on my Master’s of Community and Regional Planning (CRP) and the Oregon Leadership in Sustainability (OLIS) Certificate. My focus is on community resilience.

What are you doing for the Community Service Center (CSC)?
I am working with the Community Planning Workshop (CPW) and the Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience (OPDR) as a project manager for a team of graduate students.

What project are you working on?
My project is the City of Madras Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan/Comprehensive Plan Integration project. This project will take two plans – one focused on how to prepare for natural hazards, and one focused on how land is used in the city – and merge certain aspects, so that hazards are more clearly considered when deciding what land uses are appropriate for certain areas. We will work on how best to integrate the plans by looking at what other cities have done, and by working with the community of Madras through a steering committee, survey, work session and public forum. The team will also develop educational materials to explain the plans and regulations to Madras residents.

What are some of the outcomes are you hoping to gain when your project ends?
This project is breaking new ground in terms of bringing these plans together within the framework of Oregon land use policies, so I hope that many people will benefit from this project. For the City of Madras, I hope that the plan itself will help to protect people from disasters, and that we lay the foundation for the community to embrace the plan. I hope that the project will serve as a model for other cities in Oregon to integrate their plans. Personally, I am excited to learn more about the procedure for working with and adapting land use policies.

How does your involvement with the Community Service Center relate to or inform your education?
My work with the CSC has been a huge part of my education. Learning by doing is by far the most effective for me, and I have been able to apply classroom learning throughout my projects. The range of projects, from natural hazards to parks planning has also provided great experience. The staff at the CSC have also been amazing, offering priceless guidance and insights.

What advice would you give to your younger self just beginning the CSC program?
Take care of yourself. Remember that you are a complete person with physical, mental and emotional needs. Don’t let those slide.

Vanilla or chocolate ice cream?
Well, chocolate over vanilla, but really coffee or mint.

Where can we ‘cyber-stalk’ you?
Blog: https://blogs.uoregon.edu/cscenter/tag/sarah-allison
LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/sarahallison

Developing a deep fascination of a NHMP

Posted on by Julia Havens

Stacy Ludington Jefferson County Community Planning Workshop University of Oregon When the projects were reveled for the 2013 Community Planning Workshop (CPW), I saw that there was one to update a Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan (NHMP). I didn’t know what an NHMP was, but I have always had a deep fascination for the power of nature. I am the kind of person who goes onto the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) earthquake page for fun, and who looks up maps of past lahar flows and 100 year floodplains to make sure the house I’m about to rent isn’t located in dangers way. I jumped at the NHMP opportunity!

I quickly learned that an NHMP is a plan that FEMA requires communities to update every five-years in order to remain eligible for federal mitigation funds. I also learned that mitigation is any action that can reduce the impact of natural hazards on a community. NHMPs look at a community’s level of vulnerability to natural hazards (for example: though looking at those floodplain maps I strangely enjoy so much), and probability of a hazard occurring. Knowing a community’s vulnerability and probability to a natural hazard gives us the level of risk a particular hazard poses. This knowledge is then used to develop mitigation action items to reduce the impact of hazards on the community. This can include anything from education to removing dead tree branches around power lines.

Our CPW project was to update the NHMP for Jefferson County in eastern Oregon (another reason I chose this project: to see some sunshine during the Oregon winter). A steering committee was assembled for the CPW team composing of people from community development, Fire and Rescue, community volunteers, and many more. They were extremely knowledgeable about the hazards their community had faced and were no strangers to hazard mitigation. Because of their past NHMP, they had received funding to move their city hall out of the floodplain. It was our job to update the document so they would still be eligible for additional projects.

The CPW team held a total of four county wide meetings to discuss the role of the steering committee, assess the risk that the county faces, develop action items, and discuss implementation and upkeep of the plan. We also held separate meetings with the cities of Madras and Metolius to develop action items specific to their community needs. My role extended to a summer internship with the Community Service Center where I continued working on the NHMP with Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience (OPDR). The NHMP was submitted to FEMA this past October with approval of the plan earlier this month (December). This project was really enjoyable for me and I learned a great deal about the NHMP process, what makes a good plan, and about working steering committees.

Community Planning Workshop Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience CPW OPDR Stacy Ludington

Stacy Ludington is a second year Master of Community and Regional Planning student at the University of Oregon, who plans to graduate in June of 2014. She is focusing on how the impacts of climate change affects how we plan communities, particularly climate related natural disasters. Originally from the east coast, she’s loving all that Oregon has to offer and plans to stay on the “left” coast after graduation.