Western Montana tribes, counties and municipalities are considering a regional hazard mitigation plan led by the Montana Disaster and Emergency Services (DES) to prepare for potential disasters.

The Western region is rated as having very low community resilience in comparison to the rest of the state, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) study that analyzed a variety of social, economic, infrastructural and environmental factors. Many counties do not have a hazard mitigation plan or had plans that had expired, which prompted the state to propose the Western Montana Region Hazard Mitigation Plan, said Juanita Nelson, the emergency management planner for Flathead County. Adopting the plan also ensures participants are eligible for federal disaster assistance including an array of FEMA grants.

“I think COVID is also part of the reason why the state started looking at other options on how we can assist some of the small population counties with having these plans,” Nelson said.

Kalispell City Council discussed the city’s component of the regional mitigation plan during a work session Monday night, reviewing the five-year proposal before the council votes on its adoption in advance of the November deadline.

Criticism centered around the fact that, despite requiring collaboration between the county and its municipalities, there had been little communication between the two about the plan.

“One of the biggest complaints I often get is there’s no regional planning,” said Mayor Mark Johnson “… I think it was a missed opportunity, (I) really wanted to meet with everyone at one time.”

Nelson said that meeting mostly virtually with the state and county minimized the ability to further localize planning, along with the general difficulty of getting people interested in hazard mitigation planning. She recalled collaborative efforts in response to the intense 2023 fire season, noting that there hasn’t been a season like it the past two years to help maintain interest.

“It’s been a learning experience for the DES and it’s been a learning experience for the counties that have participated, and going in a second time I think we will definitely have a better understanding and more ducks in a row and be able to do things better on a local level,” said Nelson.

Councilor Sam Nunnally closed the 20-minute meeting with lingering sentiments from the council meeting the week prior, where plans to redesign downtown with a $25 million grant were stalled by a wave of last-minute critique.

“I do think that you hit the nail on the head that we do need to kind of get some of that regional planning back together that we used to have,” said Nunnally. “I think it highlighted it last week. I think it highlighted it now this week, and I think definitely we need to.”

I’m Zoë Buhrmaster, here to hand over the rest of Tuesday’s Daily Roundup.