We partner with six communities across three states to help them identify and prioritize climate risks, and co-develop action plans to build climate resilience capacity. Each of our focus communities has different risks, but one thing remains the same: the climate is changing, and weather events are becoming more severe and unpredictable.
As we enter year four of the Rural Confluence Project, we’ve spent a lot of time getting to know our focus communities, understanding the risks they face, and comparing their risks to regional and national trends for rural communities. We prioritize collaboration at every step, starting by learning from community members about the risks and challenges they face firsthand. After we understand the risks and challenges our focus communities face, we work with them to develop tailored solutions and ensure the action plans we co-develop align with regional and national solutions for building climate resilience capacity.
About our Focus Region
The Mississippi River Basin stretches from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico and covers both the Midwest and the Southeast regions of the United States. Over the past several years, the entire basin has faced climate risks, including drought and fire, flooding from severe weather events and excessive rainfall, and damage to natural and manmade systems from severe storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Each of our focus communities faces the same risks the entire basin faces. Still, because each community is in a different portion of the basin, the effects look slightly different for each community.
Our Focus Communities and the Climate Risks They Face
Our northernmost focus community is Knox County, Nebraska. Niobrara’s greatest climate risk is flooding and sediment transfer from the Niobrara River. During severe precipitation events, the Niobrara River floods, but community members are also becoming increasingly concerned about the amount of sediment traveling downstream and blocking the river. Not only does this alter the flow of the Niobrara River, but it also increases the risk of flooding because the sediment blocks the natural flow of the river as it continues downstream.
Just under 300 miles southwest of Niobrara is Curtis, Nebraska, our second focus community. Community members report drought and fire are some of their most pertinent risks. The drought not only increases the likelihood of fire, but it also increases nutrient levels in the soil, oftentimes doing more harm than good.
Nitrates left over in the soil not only decrease agricultural crop health and yield at harvest, but nitrate runoff is a large problem in the county and region. Increased nitrate concentrations pose health risks to humans, animals, and plants, and require extensive filtration to remove them from water sources. This process is called reverse osmosis water treatment and requires specialized systems and equipment to accomplish.
To compound the challenges further, consistently higher-than-average temperatures exacerbate drought conditions and create potential for unsafe air quality through increased dust and allergens in the air or smoke from fires. Poor air quality threatens outdoor workers and sensitive populations like the elderly, children, or immunocompromised individuals, placing more stress on the community economically.
Drought is not only a current risk, but the reality of much of southwestern and western Nebraska, with many communities in the region experiencing abnormally dry to severe drought risks. The drought risks of varying severity follow the Mississippi River Basin 400 miles south into north-central Oklahoma, where one of our Oklahoma focus communities sits.
Grant and Kay CountiesBlackwell, Oklahoma, faces similar drought risks,. Blackwell is located in Kay County, Oklahoma, and the community is no stranger to severe weather events and risks. According to the official website of Blackwell, Kay County ranks fifth in the state for tornado totals. Severe weather can bring tornado and flood risks to Blackwell and has brought destruction in the past. In 1955, an F-5 tornado devastated the community, and they’ve been dedicated to preparing for severe weather ever since.
Blackwell is now considered a “Weather Ready” community by the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma. They are one of only two communities in Kay County with this distinction. We hope to continue helping Blackwell be Weather Ready, while learning from them to help other communities adopt the same practices so they too can be prepared for severe weather when it hits.
A little over 200 miles southwest of Grant and Kay CountiesBlackwell is Jackson County, our other Oklahoma focus community. The biggest risks they face are created by drought. Agriculture is the largest economic driver in the county, through cotton, wheat, and beef production. The county seat, Altus, is also home to an Air Force Base, creating two large pulls for scarce water resources. Recent drought has depleted the county’s primary water source, Lake Altus-Lugert. Low lake levels not only restrict recreational opportunities, but also prevent producers from irrigating their cropland.
This year, the drought resulted in no significant cotton crop, leaving two gins idle. Cotton is an economic mainstay for Jackson County, so we have been working closely with Jackson County residents to help determine strategies to lessen drought effects. Community members also face risks from high levels of nitrates in the water, but thankfully Altus, the county seat of Jackson County, has a reverse osmosis treatment plant. This removes nitrates from public and city water sources but does not reach private water sources like wells.
Over 700 miles southeast is where the first of our Louisiana focus communities is located. The community of Montegut, Louisiana, faces risks unlike most of our Nebraska and Oklahoma communities. Because they are located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, they face flooding, extreme weather, and coastal erosion risks, and unfortunately, realities.
Community members not only struggle with the reality of these risks, but they often feel voiceless. Many community members in Montegut express concerns over the state of essential infrastructure, either left to deteriorate or under repair for years at a time. Paired with the sheer loss of land from rising sea levels and erosion, these risks leave the community with declining tax revenue and decreased personal wealth. Not only do these factors impede their ability to address climate risks, but it also often leads to out-migration, where community members leave Montegut for other places.
Just over 60 miles away is our second Louisiana community, Plaquemines Parish. Community members face the same risks as our community members in Montegut. However, regions of the Upper Barataria Basin face increased risks from nutrient export, or when excess nutrients from human activity are flushed from the soil and into waterways.
One of the most prevalent risks of nutrient export is fishery health. Increased nutrient levels of Phosphorus and Nitrogen increase algal blooms, which decrease the oxygen levels of water and impact fish reproduction. Fishing is not only a large industry and cultural hub in coastal and bayou communities, but it also attracts tourists. Unhealthy fisheries pose a major risk for the economic vitality of communities in Plaquemines Parish and beyond.
What is Next?
After laying extensive groundwork in our six focus communities across the Mississippi River Basin to understand the risks community members face firsthand, we have begun to co-develop action plans to help lessen climate risks. Though communities across the United States face many of the same risks, each community feels those risks differently. This is why our approach is so important. By having community members identify our priorities, they maintain their historic and cultural identities while building a better, more climate-resilient future.