Resilient Mammoth Lakes General Plan Update
SB1 Adaptation Planning Grant: Final Case Study
Summary
The Town of Mammoth Lakes initiated the Resilient Mammoth lakes project in August 2018. The project is a comprehensive review of how climate change and its related hazards may affect the Town in the coming years and decades. A vulnerability assessment was prepared as a foundation of the Resilient Mammoth Lakes project and considers how severe climate change effects are likely to be on the Town’s people and assets as well as which groups of people and assets face the greatest threat. The vulnerability assessment and adaptation strategies place emphasis on specific vulnerable populations and disadvantaged communities in Mammoth Lakes.
The primary project outcome is the identification of adaptation strategies that will help the Town become more resilient to climate related impacts applicable to the region. The adoption of identified adaptation strategies was accomplished through an update to the Town’s General Plan Public Health and Safety Element, which also brings the Town into compliance with legislative requirements of State Senate Bill 379. The entire process took a little over one year to complete, with the final adoption of the General Plan update occurring in August 2019.
Lead Agency and Partnerships
The Town hired Placeworks, Inc., to lead the preparation of a vulnerability assessment and analysis. A regional non-profit, Sierra Business Council, was hired as a sub-consultant brought on by Placeworks in order to gain regional expertise that would benefit the development of Adaptation Strategies for Mammoth lakes.
The climate adaptation strategies that were prepared as part of the project were adopted and incorporated into the Town’s General Plan Public Health and Safety Element. The General Plan implementation table identifies the lead and participating staff and agencies for each of the adopted climate adaptation action items in order to guide implementation.
As Lead Agency, the Town of Mammoth Lakes will implement the adopted adaptation strategies through collaboration and partnerships with a range of external stakeholders including the Mammoth Lakes Fire Protection District, United States Forest Service, Caltrans, the Mammoth Lakes Community Water District, the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, Mammoth Lakes Housing, Mammoth Unified School District, the Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, and other non-governmental agencies, businesses, and community-based organizations.
Drivers
Drivers for this project included State legislation, such as SB 379 and the 2017 General Plan Guidelines, which include guidance regarding the incorporation of climate adaptation and resiliency strategies into the General Plan. Additional drivers for this work included the recent catastrophic California fire events, and support from the Town’s legislative body to address vulnerabilities within the Town’s infrastructure that may be intensified by effects of climate change. The availability of funding to undertake this project made the work a feasible priority for the Community and Economic Development Department.
Engagement Process
A Climate Change Action Team (CCAT) was formed to engage with the project team and review work products, support community engagement, and participate in organized discussions about specific objectives for the project to ensure the Town’s efforts would best meet the needs and values of the community. The CCAT Team included individuals representing various sectors of the community with the intent that participation from the team would increase project confidence, minimize uncertainty, and speed problem solving and decision making. CCAT Team members included representatives from the Mammoth Community Water District, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, US Forest Service, Sierra Club Range of Light Group, CalTrans, Chamber of Commerce, Planning and Economic Development Commission, Town Council, Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve, and local business owners. This specific group of stakeholders were engaged to review and provide comments on each step of the vulnerability assessment process, which included the identification of sensitivities, exposures, impacts, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability scoring and prioritization.
To encourage public participation in the Safety Element update process, the Town conducted a community workshop for the Resilient Mammoth Lakes project in January 2019. This public workshop invited the community to learn about the Mammoth Lakes Climate Adaptation Resiliency Strategies and General Plan update and provide local perspectives and input. The public was notified two weeks prior to the workshop via the local newspaper, flyers, email newsletter, announcements in the local media, and postings on the Town’s website. With approximately 13 community members in attendance, the workshop began with an introductory presentation to provide an overview of the preliminary findings of the Vulnerability Assessment before breaking into an open house format. Attendees were then asked to review posted materials about the project at different stations and provide feedback about their climate adaptation priorities. Comments received from this community workshop resulted in modifications to the draft Public Health and Safety Element update.
Climate Impact Area
The climate exposures assessed for the Town included drought, extreme heat, flooding, forest pests and diseases, human health hazards, landslides and mudflows, severe weather, severe winter weather, smoke and ash, and wildfire. The project responds to and builds resilience against identified climate impacts through the adoption of adaptation strategies and action items in the General Plan Public Health and Safety Element.
Progress will be monitored by the Community and Economic Development Department. The Town presents an Annual Planning Report to the Town Council every year, which requires staff to report on the progress towards implementing the General Plan action items. This process assists the Town Council with setting priorities and work programs for the following year.
Funding Source
CalTrans awarded the Town of Mammoth Lakes an Adaptation Planning Grant funded through Senate Bill 1 (The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017) on December 15, 2017. The grant funding provided the Town with $158,270.00 and required a local cash match of $20,505.00, for a total project budget of $178,775.
Research and Data
Much of the data used in the analysis of climate impacts came from current scientific research that discusses how climate change may affect people and community assets, including studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Geophysical Research Letters, and Climate Change. The Town augmented the information in these studies and reports with websites and publications from scientific and academic institutions, government organizations, and credible local and national sources, including updated climate modeling from the UCLA Center for Climate Science.
The Town supplemented the scholarly research and local data with data from state and federal agencies, including published reports and datasets. The Town relied on information from several agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the California Energy Commission, Cal OES, the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), the California Natural Resouces Agency (CNRA), and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). The Town also relied on the US Census Bureau for demographic data, including information about the numbers of disadvantaged persons in the community. Key state resources that were used include the following guidance documents, reports, and tools.
- The state’s Adaptation Planning Guide and the Fourth Climate Change Assessment, including the Sierra Nevada Regional Report, provided extensive information about climate-related exposures and vulnerabilities, as did federal reports such as the National Climate Assessment.
- Cal-Adapt, a web-based tool developed by the California Energy Commission (CEC), provided highly specific information about historic climate conditions and future climate projections.
- Documents from CNRA, such as the Safeguarding California Plan (2018 Update) and California Climate Adaptation Strategy reports, provided additional information about state climate vulnerabilities and adaptation strategies.
Challenges
An anticipated challenge included managing vulnerabilities that are tied directly to the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area operations as well as natural/wilderness attractions located outside of the Town’s jurisdiction, as effective partnerships are essential to addressing vulnerabilities that may result from specific operations and/or maintenance of those areas. Given the limited influence the Town had over these areas, the challenge was addressed through engagement of these stakeholders early on in the project by soliciting their participation in Climate Action Team meetings.
An unanticipated challenge was that broader stakeholder and public engagement were a challenge throughout this project. The Climate Change Action Team was made up of volunteers from outside agencies, organizations and businesses, and functioned as a volunteer committee. It was difficult to achieve consistent attendance and participation from the CCAT team members. Additionally, the US Forest Service participation was interrupted due to the extended closing of USFS offices during our project period. Staff also encountered competing priorities amongst the participating stakeholders.
Presenting the Impact and Adaptive Capacity scoring method to the CCAT team was a challenge, and meetings would have benefited from more time being dedicated to training, education, and clearly identifying the meeting objectives.
Outcomes
Out of the 70 assets the Town analyzed, 46 sensitivities are highly or severely vulnerable to one or more exposures. The resilience of these sensitivities will increase through the implementation of adaptation measures. The primary project outcome has been the identification of the Town’s climate change vulnerabilities, the identification of various adaptation strategies, and an update to the General Plan Public Health and Safety Element.
Replicability
The project will support Caltrans and other state agencies in planning for climate related impacts in the Eastern Sierra by identifying best practices that can be used in other communities. The format used to identify vulnerabilities and subsequently rate, evaluate, and prioritize implementation measures intended to address those vulnerabilities is replicable for other communities in California, particularly the Sierra Nevada region. The adoption of climate adaptation policies and actions items into the General Plan Public Health and Safety Element is replicable because every city in the State is required to adopt a General Plan and every jurisdiction is required to report on the progress towards implementing the action items in the General Plan on an annual basis.
Additional Resources
Further Information
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