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Building Resilience during Recovery: Lessons from Colorado’s Watershed Resilience Pilot Program

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Abstract

As the potential for and scope of some types of disasters increases, so too does the need to build greater disaster resilience across the globe. Communities ideally begin building resilience prior to experiencing a disaster in order to reduce negative impacts and ease recovery processes; however, numerous environmental and sociopolitical factors can impede such efforts until a disaster occurs. While the disaster recovery period offers opportunities for communities to build resilience as they replace infrastructure and restore services, a host of new issues arise during this time that can further complicate or delay resilience building. In this study, we highlight the opportunities and challenges inherent at the intersection of disaster recovery and resilience building, which we term the “recovery–resilience nexus.” To study this nexus, we analyze a first-of-its-kind disaster recovery program in Colorado, United States, that promotes resilience-building activities in disaster-affected communities by supporting the efforts of place-based watershed coalitions. Although the program faced numerous and interrelated technical, political, and fiscal hurdles, we argue that it provides an opportunity for drawing important lessons about how communities can navigate the recovery–resilience nexus via cross-boundary collaboration and creatively leveraging traditional disaster recovery funding sources to achieve resilience goals.

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Notes

  1. Additional information about the WRPP can be found at the program’s website: https://cdola.colorado.gov/watershed-resilience-pilot-program

  2. The state version became available in 2016, whereas the local government version became available in 2017, according to a post on FEMA Region II’s website: http://www.region2coastal.com/fema-finalizes-pre-disaster-recovery-planning-guide-for-local-governments/

  3. Through a literature review and consultation with one of the foremost scholars of watershed coalitions, the authors could find no examples of literature discussing the role of watershed coalitions working to build resilience in post-disaster contexts beyond other recent studies of WRPP coalitions, though watershed coalitions do exist to address longer-term hazards such as legacy mine pollution and general environmental restoration.

  4. While FEMA typically provides the bulk of funding for response and recovery costs after federally declared disasters in the United States, HUD provides additional funds for rebuilding public infrastructure in areas where recovery needs exceed those covered by FEMA, especially for low- and moderate-income populations.

  5. A major source of funding for project implementation came from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program. The NRCS is a U.S. federal agency that administers programs to promote resource conservation on private lands. EWP provides funding for repairing watershed damages resulting from disasters that have the potential to imperil property or lives. Along with DOLA and CWCB, EWP personnel provide science-driven technical assistance “to support project design, cultural resources assessment, construction oversight, and other technical services” (Natural Resources Conservation Service 2018).

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Acknowledgements

This paper was initially prepared for presentation at the 2018 Midwest Political Science Conference. The authors would like to thank Laura Wolton for her research assistance, Dr Tomas Koontz and anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback, and participants in the WRPP for their time and insight.

Funding

This research is funded through theInfrastructure, Management, and Extreme Events Program of the National Science Foundation (Award Numbers 1461923 and 1461565).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Political Science Department, University of Nevada Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St./MailStop 0302, Reno, NV, 89509, USA

    Elizabeth A. Koebele

  2. School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver, P.O. Box 173364–Campus Box 142, Denver, CO, 80217, USA

    Deserai A. Crow

  3. Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, 9 Circuit Dr., Box 90328, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Elizabeth A. Albright

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  1. Elizabeth A. Koebele
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Correspondence to Elizabeth A. Albright.

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Koebele, E.A., Crow, D.A. & Albright, E.A. Building Resilience during Recovery: Lessons from Colorado’s Watershed Resilience Pilot Program. Environmental Management 66, 1–15 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01296-3

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