Natural Disasters

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Assisting Communities With Natural Disaster Recovery

The National Park Service – Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program assists communities in restoring their conservation areas, parks and outdoor recreation resources following a natural disaster. We help communities develop climate change mitigation strategies to better thrive after severe storms and fires.

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As a changing climate increases the intensity and frequency of hurricanes, floods and wildfires, NPS-RTCA has extended our services to communities who are recovering from natural disasters. In recent years, NPS-RTCA has helped 29 communities across the country in restoring 58 parks and outdoor recreation facilities as well as in evolving climate resiliency strategies. NPS-RTCA, in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, continues to adapt our recovery work with a focus on sustainability and resiliency.

Today, NPS-RTCA is often asked to assist with conservation projects that help communities better adapt to a changing climate. In the Lower 9th Ward, a neighborhood in New Orleans that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, NPS-RTCA partnered with the city and the Sankofa Community Development Corporation in transforming a 40-acre vacant site into a wetland park that will improve neighborhood resiliency to heat, flooding and future hurricanes.

The NPS-RTCA model of community assistance is not that of a “traditional consultant” – our projects can take two to four years to complete. NPS-RTCA aligns the planning, design and technical expertise of our staff with the skills and knowledge of community and land management partners to achieve successful conservation, climate resilience and outdoor recreation outcomes.

NPS-RTCA natural disaster recovery projects include:

• Evolving climate change resiliency strategies
• Implementing phytoremediation strategies to remove, contain and control contaminants to improve water quality and protect public health
• Developing county-wide recreation economy strategies around conservation and outdoor recreation
• Planning and designing greenways and parks
• Reassessing destroyed parks and developing master plans to guide restoration efforts that meet the demographic characteristics of a community
• Reestablishing local and regional trail networks
• Developing vegetation plans that use hurricane-resilient and water-absorbing plants and trees
• Engaging communities in the development of natural disaster recovery plans
• Facilitating regional tourism strategies

NPS-RTCA Community Assistance

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